Our Note: Convergence
by Twins of Chaos and Sugar
Summary: What are the chances that the only two Notes in the world would be in nearly the same place? The story is complex enough with two sides playing-four girls converge on the game of the Note with their own rules and goals, and history changes. Full summary i
1. Chapter 1 Ami

Fhira:

This story includes OCs, bordering on self-inclusion. I know that a lot of people hate that, but we're writing this for us, not you, no offense meant but it's true. Also, while I know a second complaint against self-inclusion and OCs is a first person point of view, the story simply doesn't work any other way. There are too many points of view, and first person helps clarify whose perspective it is in each chapter. There are four primary perspectives (each major OC), so the distinction is necessary. Also, our characters are not, as far as any of us can tell, Mary Sues. They have weaknesses, flaws, etc., can't solve every problem, and are not all going to have every other character falling in love with them at first glance. (Shudders) My character, at least, is true to me enough that I'd have to have her punch them if that happened, and will most likely annoy every character she can just because. So our characters are not Mary Sues, and if you think one of them is becoming one, I at least want to know. (I'm writing as Tori/Victory.) However, wait a little before you decide that: most of the characters' flaws are hidden at first and will show up more as the story goes; it's impossible for the characters' personalities to work any other way. And my last point: THESE CHARACTERS ARE NOT COPIES OF US. Similar to us, yes. Someone we'd like to be, probably. Someone we could have been, in theory. But actually us, not remotely, which is why I said it _borders on_ self-insertion, not it _is_.

So if you feel like reading and being open-minded about this, aka not hating it immediately because it has OCs and is from their perspective, please do and we'd like to hear what you think. If you don't like stories with OCs as major characters, then I can't help but think that there is no point to your reading this, so please go find a story that you will enjoy; I know there are plenty of good ones out there.

We don't own Death Note.

Sayuka: Since Fhira didn't mention this, and we couldn't fit our entire summary out there, I'll put it in here!

Summary: What are the chances that the only two Notes in the world would be in nearly the same place? The story is complex enough without two sides playing - four girls converge on the game of the Note, with their own rules, motives and goals, and history changes. The game becomes more than deadly, more than personal. L gains more support and detectives. Kira gains a potentially more devastating and deadly ally. How will the game end-will it be the humans who win? Or the ones who sold their lives to the Shinigami?

Disclaimer: We don't own Death Note.

* * *

"Ami, could you deliver this to your father, please? He forgot his lunch," my mother said.

"Sure, mom," I replied, grabbing a map and my dad's lunch and heading out the door.

My name is Ami Mizume, and I'm seventeen years old. My father was a Japanese ambassador to the United States, where he met my mother. We lived there until about five days ago, when we moved to Japan. I had just finished my high school courses online, and since the calendars were offset, there wasn't much for me to do.

"Let's see..." I muttered to myself. "If I'm going in the right direction, his office should be around...." I stopped and looked up. Before me was one of the largest buildings I had ever seen. _Great,_ I thought, _now I'll never find him...._ I walked through the sliding doors and went to the front desk. "Excuse me..." I began hesitantly.

"What? And speak up," the receptionist snapped.

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I didn't know this was a bad time.... I just came to deliver this to Seigi Mizumi." Sighing heavily, the receptionist took the package and shooed me out the door. _It must be a stressful day,_ I thought.

I sighed as I walked home. I felt bad for my father. If even the receptionist was this stressed, I wondered how the rest of the workers were doing.

* * *

~~Later that day~~

"Welcome home, dad." I happily greeted my father when he got home.

"Ah, hi, Ami," he replied half-heartedly. "How was your day?"

"Fine," I replied as usual. It was amazing. Father had never seemed so exhausted. Usually he was so energetic, I could hardly keep up with him. But now....

It was quiet as we sat around the dinner table that night. "So, dad," I began, trying to start a conversation. "Why the sudden rush to Japan? What are you working on?" As soon as those words left my mouth my mother gave me The Look. I began to apologize, thinking I had done something wrong, but my dad raised his hand.

"It's okay, dear," he said to my mother, "I trust Ami." Then he looked at me. "Actually," he began, failing to conceal an excited smile, "I am currently assigned to the Criminal Victim Mass Murder Case."

"Which is...?"

"Lately," he began, "there have been criminals dying worldwide, mostly from heart attacks." I listened intently. The case seemed interesting, especially with the main cause of the deaths. "...That's all we know at this point, except that the perpetrator is publicly known as Kira."

For the next eight days or so, I did everything possible to find out more about Kira. Whenever I went out, I listened as closely as I could anytime I heard even the slightest hint about Kira in a conversation. At home, I paid special attention to the news, and did research on the Internet.

I decided that, unlike some others that I had noticed, I did not support Kira's actions. Although I sort of understood his probable reasoning, I still didn't believe that murder would solve the world's problems.

When I wasn't researching, I would work on puzzles, bake, run errands, or spend time with my family.

One night, I decided to go out to eat. My parents were were visiting my uncle overnight (he was sick) and we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, so my options at home were limited.

On the way home, I noticed someone standing near Tokyo Square. I don't know why I noticed her, especially in that huge crowd, but I did. She just seemed a little out of place, maybe. Before I could move, though, the large television at the station went dark, and when it came back on, the screen showed a man by the name of Lind L. Tailor.

"We are interrupting this program to being you a live, globally televised broadcast from Interpol." The program echoed through the square.

_What is this?_ I wondered. _Globally broadcast from Interpol? Why didn't I hear about this from father?_

"My name is Lind L. Tailor...."

_No duh; it only says it right there in front of you, _I thought.

"...More commonly known as L."

_What? So... this is L? But why is he just appearing like this? Kira will kill him!_

"Criminals have been the victims of a killing spree which has turned into the biggest mass murder case in history," L continued. "Kira, I think I've got a pretty good idea of why you're doing this. But what you are doing is evil!"

"Yeah! You tell him, L!" I whispered excitedly. Although I was still worried for his life, and more than a bit disappointed that he was so stupid as to risk his life like that....

And what do you know; about a minute later, a heart attack, and Lind L Tailor's body was hurriedly removed from the screen. _Wait._ A minute later? Why didn't Kira just have him die immediately? Unless.... _That's it!_ I realized, _he can't! However he's doing this, he has a time limit, and has to wait a minute._ At least that's what I thought.

"I... I don't believe it..." came a disembodied voice. "This was an experiment to test a hunch I had, but I never thought... Kira... you can kill people without direct contact...."

_Whoa,_ I thought. _Just wait a minute. Who is this?_

"Listen to me, Kira," it continued. "If you just killed Lind L. Tailor, the man you saw on your TV, he was a condemned criminal scheduled to die today, at this hour. His arrest and conviction were kept secret from the media, and went unreported even on the Internet. Even you had no way of knowing about him, it seems...." Then an old English L appeared on the screen.

"But I, L, do in fact exist. So come on! Kill me if you can!" The crowd buzzed, both intrigued and confused about this whole event.

Three minutes passed, and still L was alive. "Evidently you aren't able to kill me. So there are people you can't kill," L said. "That's a valuable clue. Now I'll give you some information in return. Although it was announced that this was being televised globally, ti was actually broadcast only in the Kanto region around Tokyo. And, although the police have missed this, your first victim was the Shinjuku killer who took eight people hostage in a nursery school. His crime, when compared with those of the notorious murderers who have died of heart attacks, was not very serious."

"Oh my cheese!" I gasped. L was even more amazing than I thought. In just.... I looked at my watch. In just forty-seven minutes, he had already proven that Kira could kill from afar, that he was somewhere in the Kanto region of Japan, and that there were people whom Kira couldn't kill.

"Kira, it would interest me greatly to know how you carry out your murders. But that is something I can find out after I catch you! Kira... I'm going to find and dispose of you, if its the last thing I do! I am Justice!"

And at that, the broadcast ended. _Wow,_ I thought, then added sarcastically, _cocky, aren't we?_

Looking back to my left, I noticed that the girl from earlier had disappeared. _When did she sneak out?_ I wondered, then decided that she had probably left during all the excitement.

That night after I got home, I reflected on everything that had happened that day. Kira definitely would have had no qualms about killing L, considering what he'd done to Lind L Tailor. That obviously meant L was right--there were people that Kira couldn't kill. But what were the exceptions? Maybe... it was because he didn't know what L looked like? It made sense, in a way, considering that only criminals whose faces had been shown were killed so far.

But then there was the girl... that unknown girl. Trying to shake off the mystery, I told myself that she was probably just a tourist. "One mystery at a time," I told myself.

* * *

~~Two days later~~

At the breakfast table, my father popped a surprise on us. "I decided," he began out of nowhere, "to take a five-day trip to England."

"What?" my mother and I asked simultaneously.

"I got a call from my old friend Roger," he explained. "We arranged for me to go and visit him."

"But this is so sudden...!" my mother said.

"Hey dad, can I come too?" I asked. "I've always wanted to visit England, and any friend of yours is bound to be a nice person."

"Ami, I don't think...."

"It would be good education on foreign countries," I said, "and I'd be broadening my horizons." Dad couldn't argue with that.

"Fine," he agreed. "We'll make it a family trip, then," he said excitedly. "You've been talking about needing a vacation anyway, Ellen. Why don't we take this opportunity?"

Finally, it was agreed that we would all go to England. Father got my aunt Miyumi to look after the house while we were gone. We packed out suitcases, and the next day, we were off to the airport.

I had only been on a plane once before, when we first moved to Japan, but I was still excited. Camera at the ready, I grabbed the window seat first, forcing my parents into the middle and aisle seats.

With a roar, the plane took off. I smiled down on the sea and land below us. The birds' eye view was beautiful. Here we were, heading to England....

* * *

~~England~~

We arrived at a large building later that day. In front of it was a sign that read 'Wammy's House.' On the plane trip, my father had explained that Roger helped run an orphanage for the gifted. _So, this is that orphanage..._ I thought as we drove into the parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2 Yuki

"Okay, look you!" I snarled at my pet fox, who was currently racing around my home. I'd been packing to get on a plane to Japan. Why would a simple gothic/emo girl in Alaska want to go to Japan? Simple. I'm really Japanese, living abroad. And Kira. I'd seen the news, and I was amused.

About an hour later, I was leaving. My parents didn't care, I was invisible most of the time. I shushed my fox, and carefully started my silver truck. It started with a slight, roaring purr. I laughed. My cousin would be surprised when he picked it up from the airport.

I pulled into a parking space and sighed. I grabbed my stuff and slipped my key into the locked key holder on the inside of the bed. My cousin knew my password. I straightened my shoulders, and then I was off.

~~The Next Day: Kanto Region~~

I stretched, wincing. Jet lag sucked. I was in my old home, laying on the couch. A black and silver blur smashed into me as I sat up.

"Good morning Kyira." I gently pushed my hyper fox off my chest and staggered to my feet. I stood and went through a series of stretches. Now that I was awake, I wandered into my kitchen and got Kyira and myself breakfast.

I closed and locked my front door as I left, an hour later. Kyira was my 'guard dog' at home, viciously protective of our things. I was looking for Kira. And I was determined to find him. The streets were full of students just out of school, I'd start my first day tomorrow. I casually leaned against a street light, crowd-watching. I hoped I didn't stand out too much, seeing as I was in black baggy pants, tight v-neck t-shirt, and a trench coat. I had a slim black notebook in my pocket. That's when I noticed him. I'd glanced up from making sure my notebook was still there and caught the golden/brown gaze of a strawberry blonde. He'd stopped dead, staring at me. Then I saw his eyes flick to my pocket. _Ah, Kira. I've found you._ I started slightly as the boy moved in my direction. I narrowed my eyes. I could not be certain that he was Kira, and I did not want to expose myself. He paused, a few feet away.

"Err. . . Hi?" I ventured, looking at him calmly. He stared at me for a moment.

"Hi." Then he glanced to the side, and I heard him mutter "is that a Note, Ryuk?" I smiled slightly.

"Is he Kira?" I whispered to an innocently invisible ball of fluff. It looked innocent until it uncoiled itself. Two black angel wings unfurling from the silver-blue fur. Chains ratted on its dragonish forelimbs and hind limbs. Two red eyes opened and the ball form changed until it stood, taller than me.

"Yes, he is," it answered, the voice a growling, purring hiss.

"You know something?" I called to the boy. He started, glaring at me. "I know who you are." He glanced around, furiously stepping closer to me.

"Oh? Do you now?" He threatened, voice deep.

"I also know that that I'm a lot like _you, _Kira." I hissed, "…Except for a couple vital differences. One, I'm smarter. Two, I have boobs." I growled, smirking. He flushed, and glared.

"What? Your Shinigami didn't tell you that I have a Note?" I taunted.

"Keep talking and I will kill you."

"You don't know my name, _idiot_."

"You don't know mine," he retorted angrily.

"Light Yagami."

"How in hell-"

"It's on the paper sticking out of your bag." I laughed. He glared.

"We need to talk," He growled. "Now."

"We are talking."

"I meant in private. Come on." He grabbed my hand, dragging me.

"Alright, alright, Mr. Bossy!" I lengthened my strides, matching his. I glared at the back of his head, trying to jerk my hand out of his, and failing. _Smart boy, he knows I'll take off the other way if he lets me go,_ I thought bitterly. I heard him chuckle at my attempts.

He dragged me a few blocks away and stopped long enough to open the door to a normal-looking house. Then I was pulled inside, the door slammed, and dragged halfway up the stairs. A curious voice made Light pause.

"Hey, Light? Who's she?" A young girl with black hair bolted into view, eyes alight with curiosity. _Oh, great. Light has a sister._

"A friend," Light replied, his voice guarded. I hear more footsteps and Light groaned under his breath. An older woman rounded the corner of the stairs and stared at me in astonishment.

"And… You are?" she asked warily. I sighed quietly. Then I noticed that Light still had my hand. That explained it.

"Yuki Shioru," I replied calmly.

"She looks like a witch…" the youngest muttered, but we all heard. Light's hand acted like he was trying to make a fist, but couldn't with my hand there. He turned slightly red in the face, but didn't let go.

"Sayu! That was rude!" his mother exclaimed, shocked.

"Sayu, don't talk about my friend like that," Light growled at his sister, starting to pull me upstairs.

"Sayu, apologize to Yuki!" I heard his mother hiss.

"Sorry." Sayu sounded sullen. Light half-smiled and continued to walk upstairs.

"You know, that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever said about me right when they first met me!" I laughed. I couldn't see his expression, but I thought he smiled. He stopped at the top of the stairs, dropping my hand. I watched him curiously, he was examining the hinges of his door. He turned to me sheepishly, holding a thin piece of pencil lead in his hand. He pushed down on his door handle, waving me in. He quietly shut his door and put the piece of lead in a small glass jar on his desk. I watched with a raised eyebrow.

"It's my way of checking if someone snuck into my room," he answered my unspoken question. I smiled slightly at him, amused by his caution.

"We have to figure out what's going on. We both have Death Notes, and this gives me some ideas. Would you be willing to help me?" Light asked as he flopped into his desk chair, while I slowly sank onto the bed. I shrugged out of my trench coat, pulling my Death Note from my pocket and setting it on my lap. Light reached into his school bag, pulling out another black notebook. He smiled slightly.

"If I'm going to help you, we're giving each other a page from our own Death Notes," I retorted, flipping the cover open to the second page. Light laughed.

"Wary, aren't we?" He laughed, opening his notebook from the back and carefully pulling out a page. I tore a page from my book and handed my page to him.

"Be warned. She's a little bad-tempered." I warned Light as he took the page. His eyes flickered from the page to behind me, eyes wide and his face slightly pale. I turned to my Shinigami, and I also paled slightly. She'd changed again. A blue-furred/maned, black angel-winged, dragon was glaring at me with red eyes. The chains on her forelimbs rattled along with the ones on her hind limbs. She coiled her tail around my waist, hissing at Light.

"If you hurt Yuki, I will personally hunt you down and kill you," she snarled furiously. Light handed me the page from his Note, his hand shaking slightly. I took it, raising one eyebrow.

"So. You're Ryuk," I said to the Death God behind Light. He was much more human-looking than my Shinigami. Ryuk had a freakish smile, shark-like teeth, a pierced ear, fish eyes, long arms, and long legs. His smile extended further. I blinked, not really caring. Light smiled slightly at my lack of reaction. I shrugged calmly at him. He laughed and then I was the one smiling. I whipped my head away from him, face slightly red. _What's wrong with me!_ I snarled to myself. _I'm not supposed to think that!_ I bit my lip and forced myself to remain calm. I jumped slightly, as the TV turned on. I looked at Light. He shrugged, then froze.

-We interrupt this program to bring you a live, globally televised broadcast from Interpol.-

Light looked at me, worried. I glared at the screen in fury.

-"My name is Lind L. Tailor, more commonly known as L. Criminals have been the target of a killing spree that has turned into the biggest mass-murder case in history. Kira, I think I've got a pretty good idea of why you're doing this. But what you're doing is evil!"-

Light and I smirked. He opened his notebook, wrote down 'Lind L. Tailor' in his neat script. He purposefully shut the Note. And we waited the forty-second gap. The man behind the desk clutched his heart and convulsed to the floor. Ryuk laughed and Light smirked. I shot him a dirty look that he missed.

-"I…I don't believe it…."- A mechanical sounding voice spoke, then the image of an old style, gothic 'L' blipped onto the screen.

-"This was an experiment to test a hunch I had, but I never thought…Kira…You can kill people without direct contact…."-

"Oh, _damn,_" I gasped.

-"Listen to me, Kira. You just killed Lind L. Tailor, the man you saw on your TV, he was a condemned criminal who was to be executed today, at this hour. His arrest and conviction were kept secret from the media and went un-reported even online. Even you had no way of knowing about it, it seems!"-

"This guy's on your cases!" Ryuk laughed. Light hissed.

-"But I, L, do in fact exist. So come on! Kill me, if you can!"-

Light growled under his breath and I clenched my hands into tight fists. Ryuk was making 'hyuk' sounds. My Shinigami was silent. We waited for three long, tense, deadly minutes.

-"Evidently you can't kill me. So, there _are_ people you can't kill. That's a valuable clue. Now, I'll give you some information in return. Although it was announced that this was being televised globally, it was actually broadcast only in the Kanto Region around Tokyo. And, although the police have missed this, your first victim was the Shinjuku killer who took eight people hostage. His crime, when compared to the notorious murderers; who've died of heart attacks, was not very serious? Kira, it would interest me greatly to know how you carry out your murders. But that is something I can find out _after_ I catch you!"-

Light's hand was shaking with rage.

-"I am Justice!"- The 'L' vanished from the screen. Light clicked the power button. We were silent for a good ten minutes. Ryuk was the only one who seemed to be amused.

"Well you two. You're both in trouble, if this 'L' figured all that out." He laughed.

"No. L's missing one very vital piece of information." I smirked.

"What is that?" Ryuk asked, looking completely confused.

"There're two of us," Light said, smiling evilly. I felt my Death God's laughter through my shoulder. Ryuk looked stunned.

"By the way Light. I'll be going to the same school as you," I told him casually.

"Oh? Even better." He smiled. I laughed.

"You'll be getting buried in rumors. I'm going to wear the guy's uniform."

"Ehh… Why?"

"I refuse point-blank to wear a skirt." I growled. Light looked bemused.

"Wait, why would _I_ be buried in rumors?"

"Well, since we'll be hanging around each other so much, we're going to have to pretend that we're dating. It's the easiest explanation." I rolled my eyes.

"Ah…." He looked slightly sick. Ryuk started cackling. I sighed, glancing down at my watch.

"Do you need to go home?" Light asked an odd tone in his voice.

"No, not yet. I live here alone." I couldn't hide the agony in my voice. Light looked worried. I forced myself to smile.

"I'm always alone, always been. I'm used to it," I said lamely.

"I… see. Would you like for me to come see you after school?" he asked, looking awkward.

"Sure. You can walk me around school. Then I'll show you my home."

"I'll hold you to that," Light muttered. I stood, waving.

"_Now_ I gotta go."

Light walked me out the door and waved.

"See you in school, Yuki," he called. I waved. As I walked away, I heard Light's family pestering him about me.

"Whew boy… Say, what's your name?" I asked my shinigami.

"Mayu." She laughed.


	3. Chapter 3 Tori

Well. Chapter three, intro to Tori, a hint about Embly, and Ami returns. Third of the first set of chapters; we're waiting for Neko/Embly to write the last of the set, then we can begin on the second round of chapters. If she doesn't get around to it, we'll wait a few days and then probably post a blank to put the chapter in when she's done, or an outline of what happens to be replaced by the chapter. So you shouldn't have to wait long; it's just a matter of which chapter goes up next; Embly's chapter 1 or Ami's chapter 2.

* * *

I'm not really sure where everything began, when it became impossible to stop. Maybe when Ryuk got bored--or when shinigami were created. I'm not even sure where my part started. When I met L? Or Ami? Roger? Or before, when I realized I was so bored I'd do anything if it was interesting? Before that, even, when I first became bored, and started delving into psychology and philosophy? I don't even know when that was.

For consistency, though, I'll start with visible changes.

I was unique at Wammy's House. Not for my intelligence; I was quite average, possibly a bit below as far as that was concerned. My age was some of it; I was eighteen, and the oldest orphan was fifteen. That's it, though: I wasn't--strictly--an orphan. My mother had died when I was a few years old, giving birth to my younger brother. My father, though, was alive, if constantly on business trips with my brother. My twin and I mostly took care of ourselves since we'd been able. So we weren't orphans, though it sometimes felt like we were.

My place in Wammy's House was unique too. I was half student, half teacher, and half therapist. Roger and Watari had decided that, since none of the orphans really had any idea what the rest of the world was like, they'd bring in someone from it. I'd graduated high school early and not wanted to go to college immediately, so I fit. I'd been at Wammy's since I was sixteen, while Embly ran around the world, generally creating chaos. Roger had also taken to having me take care of anything that involved contact between Wammy's and the outside world, so I guess I was half diplomat, too.

It wasn't a great shock when my phone rang. I was in Wammy's House, and the number was Roger's but, while the orphanage wasn't overwhelmingly large, it was large enough to make finding someone potentially difficult. "Hello?"

"Hello Victory, it's Roger. Would you mind giving a bit of an informal tour for me?"

"Sure." It was a slightly unusual request, mainly the informal part and the fact that I hadn't scheduled it, but by Wammy's standards--now mine as well--not at all strange. "Give me five minutes and I'll be there."

It wasn't particularly inconvenient timing. I'd been in my room, writing and listening to music. I closed the laptop--it would save what I had, and security wasn't a concern of mine--and picked up an iPod. I had it on and playing before I left the room. It took me a few minutes to get down to the first floor, then get diverted.

"_Near!_"

I sighed and pulled my phone back out, dialing as I changed direction. "Roger?"

"Yes?"

"Would a slight delay be problematic?"

"Mello, you can't kill Near."

"Shut the hell up, Matt!"

I'd arrived in the doorway without being noticed. Mello had grabbed Near's shirt, Near looked mostly emotionless, and Matt was to the side, looking bored. A few other orphans were across the room; the younger two looked scared and the oldest--the only one older than Matt and Mello--looking frustrated. They saw me but said nothing.

Roger sighed. "I see. No, it's not a problem. I'll see you in a few minutes, then."

"Right," I muttered, quietly enough for the two fighting not to hear. I snapped the phone shut audibly, getting everyone's attention in the silence of Mello's and Near's glaring/staring contest. "So. Who did what this time?"

"Near stole my chocolate!" Mello responded first.

"He actually did."

Mello turned on Matt. "What, you think I'd lie?!"

"You have a well-known tendency to jump to conclusions, Mello, and to exaggerate. Arguing with someone who is supporting you in never a good idea, anyway." I looked at Near before Mello could have a chance to react. "Near, why did you steal Mello's chocolate?"

"...It was an experiment," Near said. "I was testing how he would react."

I sighed. I'd discovered that kids were exasperating enough, and genius kids even more so. "...Near, while I may have told you to try to understand people's emotions, that does not mean you can experiment on them. Actually, it means you can't."

"But Near is the best," the oldest of the other orphans said. "He has the right to do what he wants."

"_No one_ has the right to experiment on anyone else, not without their permission and _especially_ not with their emotions." I ended up snapping at him, not as calm as I wanted, though I was more concerned with getting my point across. He ducked his head and nodded, and I turned back to Near and Mello. "So Near, you are not allowed to experiment with peoples' emotions. Ever. And Mello, try to work on self-control; all you had to do was find me. Or Roger. ...And let go of Near, please. Before you damage his clothes."

Mello scowled and let go of Near, who dropped back to the floor and went back to his normal sitting position. Mello seemed to have completely forgotten about Near in favor of scowling at me. "I couldn't find you!"

"You can't have looked very hard, then; I've been in my room for the last hour. Along those lines, please try to behave for a while; I was on my way to give a tour and I don't know who to." I started to turn back to the hall, then paused. "Oh, and Matt--while you did nothing wrong, you could be a bit more active." I didn't wait for an answer, not that I expected I'd get anything more than a nod. Matt had gone back to some kind of handheld videogame while I talked to Mello and at Near.

Nothing more happened and I got to Roger's office in a few minutes. He was by himself, absently sorting through some old papers.

"I'm here. Who's visiting?" I'd never really been inclined to formalities over speed; I blame it on being born in Chicago. Roger said it reminded him of L; I had no idea how it mattered.

"A friend of mine... I'll show him around myself, but but his daughter is coming as well."

"I can show her around," I said. "...And keep Mello away. It's just the two coming?"

"I believe his wife is still touring London, though she will probably arrive in a few days. What did Mello do this time, by the way?"

"Near, actually. He decided that it would be a good experiment to steal Mello's chocolate and see how he reacted. Matt verified and Near didn't deny it."

"Matt is Mello's friend, though," Roger said. "And Near rarely speaks at all."

"Matt doesn't care. He's honest, even if it is mostly from apathy. And Near doesn't speak with words; the way he behaved agreed." I shrugged. Understanding people was my talent. I wasn't always sure what told me, but I almost always knew anyway. I could probably pass for a psychic if I wanted.

"So what do you intend to do?" Roger generally left things like these to me now--I got the feeling that he didn't like dealing with kids. Things with set punishments he took care of, or when he caught Mello (it normally was Mello) before I knew about it, but that was rare.

"I'm taking all of Near's toys... so don't let anyone give him any more. And I'm going to make Mello do something with self control, maybe make him meditate every day or something."

Roger nodded. "Good luck with Mello."

"Yeah. I'll bribe him with extra chocolate or something, I think, since he really wasn't the one doing anything wrong this time; the most he did was overreact verbally. So how long until your friend gets here?"

Roger glanced up at the clock. "Any minute now. I was about to go down."

I waved him off. "I can get them while you put the paperwork away. What was the name?"

"Mizumi. My friend is Seigi, and his daughter is Ami."

"Okay. I'll bring them up when they get here."

I was only waiting a few minutes before a car pulled up the drive, going around to the side of the building to park. Strange cars were rare enough at Wammy's, and I'd seen the rental license plate, so I stood up and followed.

By the time I got around the corner, the car was parked and and older man and a girl my age were getting out. I started to raise my hand, then remembered to put the music on pause and dropped the ear phones so that they were hanging from around my neck. By that point Seigi and Ami were out of the car and I was about ten feet away. I raised my hand, not quite waving. "Hello."

Ami jumped slightly and turned to see me, while her father looked up and waved back. "Hello, I've come to visit my friend Roger. Do you know where he is?"

"In his office; I'll show you. He was just finishing something, so he should be about done now." I waved them over and started heading back toward the front.

"Thank you. I am Seigi Mizumi, and this is my daughter Ami."

I nodded. "I'm going by Victory at the moment, but I get called Tori most of the time, so you can use either." I glanced over and attempted not to grin. "It's a Wammy tradition that everyone use a different name, even though I'm not an orphan."

"Are you an assistant, then?" Seigi asked. I could tell what he was thinking easily--_isn't she too young_? Ami was still quiet and I wondered if she spoke English. Seigi had a noticeable accent and I suspected Ami would as well, but her expression seemed to indicate that she had some idea what was being said.

"Half student, half teacher, half therapist and more often than not half disciplinarian," I said as we reached the front doors and went in. "Which I'll actually have to deal with in a bit, but it won't take long and I can get you to Roger first."

"Oh, what happened?" Ami asked. Her accent was less that I'd expected; barely there, and American as much as Japanese.

"Ah.... Well, Mello is explosive in temper and a chocolate addict. Near is calm, to the point of being almost emotionless, and has great difficulty in understanding emotions. Mello borders on hating Near from their rivalry, and no one's sure what Near thinks, but I suspect it amuses him. Near, supposedly in an attempt to understand human emotion, stole Mello's chocolate. Mello wasn't pleased."

"That sounds bad," Ami said.

"I got there, and I suspect Matt would have kept Mello from doing anything anyway. So it wasn't that much of a problem." I opened the door to Roger's office as we reached it. "I just need to make sure they both get the point.... They're here, Roger."

The last was redundant as Roger was already looking up, and probably would have known anyway. He stood up, walking over as he talked. "Thank you, Tori. How long do you think you will be?" He looked at the two visitors. "Seigi, nice to see you, and Ami, I presume.... I'd intended to have Tori show Ami around, but...."

I shrugged. "It won't take much. Ami, you could come with me now if you want."

"I--Um, if you don't mind. I'd like to," Ami said.

I grinned. My moods change according to who I'm around, either matching or countering theirs. Ami's quiet made my mood counter, apparently. "Don't mind at all. We'll see you later." I dragged Ami out of Roger's office before either a slightly bemused Seigi or a sighing Roger could intervene.

"Um...." Ami was hesitating as I dragged her out.

I laughed and let go as we got out of the office. "Those two just want to talk, the only reason we weren't told to go was formalities and politeness. And I'll take full responsibility anyway."

"All right.... So where are we going?" Ami asked.

"To find a Trio, first. Then I'll show you anywhere we haven't already been."

"What's a Trio?"

"Three of the orphans here... they work together. I'm going to get them to help me. There's Nano, Fly and Thought."

"Are those their names? Or titles?" Ami asked.

"Names, as much as anyone here has. They're really code names, but... well, no one ever uses their real names, so the codes may as well be real."

"That doesn't seem right.... It's cool though!"

I grinned at that. "'Right' doesn't matter to reality much. This is the library, and..." I peered inside, at a row of computers, "that's Nano. Give me a moment, please...." I left Ami outside of the the library. It was probably rude, but I wasn't sure quite how much of Wammy's mentality she could take before calling it as wrong.

It only took a few minutes to explain to Nano what I wanted. Convincing him to do something that might annoy Near took a bit longer, but not much. In about five minutes I was back outside with Ami. "Okay, now that that's done, to the tour...."


	4. Chapter 4 Embly

Fhira: (dying) I forgot how hilarious Neko could be.... All right, chapter four, introduction of the last of our characters: Embly, or Neko, the high goddess of randomness and hilarity. Beware: you will be amused, and you will die of laughter. It's a fact of life with Neko, and apparently, even more so with Neko's writing. And do excuse the random spurts of British accent; she was watching Dr. Who as she wrote it. At one in the morning, too....

* * *

I'm here on business.

I've reminded myself at least seventeen times in the last hour, but I keep forgetting. After all, who can resist the urge to run circles around a parked Smartcar, or to check out a store that's advertised exclusively by girls in frilly costumes? Can I really be blamed for my adoration of this culture and everything about it?

Apparently so. Harassment is such an ugly word....

But anyway, I'm here on business. So, that's how I came to be in the square. It's rather a pity that I've become so accustomed to running from the local police (National Guard, what have you), and at such a young age, yet! But honestly, it should be more difficult to lose them in a crowd. Such as my situation was, I can hardly be blamed for missing the first part of the announcement that everyone else stopped dead (haha! Too soon? I'll make dead jokes later, then) for, and just started paying attention when people started screaming. I caught a very brief glimpse of a rather attractive (but sadly, dead) man on the GIANT televisions before a great honking "L" came onto the screens and started talking.

It was a man's voice, and he was talking to Kira-san (when in Rome... or Japan, as the case may be). He sounded quite brilliant, actually, and having grown up with brilliant people my saying he sounds brilliant means that there is quite a lot of brilliance present. Did that make sense? All of the brilliance has, alas! skipped over me, seemingly. I got a great deal of the raving lunacy, but none of the brains. Such a pity. Mind you, I'm not stupid. I actually have quite a good mind for analytical thinking when the mood takes me; I'm just easily distracted.

This pen is really shiny.... Really, really shiny. But I won't start clicking it. I won't.

So where was I? Oh yes, the "Kira I will catch you for I am Justice" speech. Honestly, L-san and Kira-san have the exact same personality if my briefing of the case and this broadcast are anything at all to go by. Both are competitive, both have good melons on their shoulders, and both seem to have this unfounded sense that they personally know what's best for the human race. (Both are probably bloody gorgeous, too, but who knows.)

This might actually mean it's a good thing I'm on this case, and my sister as well. We're not particularly cold people, we just think that humanity in general is a bit full of itself, you know? A god in our form? Please! He's moved on from our puny planet by now, if he exists. Hell, I'm bored with humanity and I've been here for a pretty short time compared to eternity. If you ask me, "superior species" is like "superior race," only legal, for some reason. But anyway, the fact that we are looking at the Kira case with the human element as a third party rather than the main focus could give us some rather helpful insight into the minds of both sides of this little spat.

Which is why I wasn't surprised to hear my phone ring within an hour of arriving at my apartment. (Have I mentioned that I'm living right outside of the city in a little rented flat? Well, I am. I hate cities, always have. Which begs the question, why in hell's name am I here? Oh, right, business.) I picked up my phone. After the pleasantries of Hello, Password, Identification, Second Password, and the real Hello, my sister asked me about my business in Japan. I should say "our" business "with" Japan, really, because we are both working the case, and I'm not entirely sure where she is at the moment.

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes at me when I told her I was running from law enforcement, though all she said was:

"Again? You never learn, do you?"

She wasn't angry with me, firstly because my stupidity had led me to the most public place that the signal was broadcast to, which meant that if I could remember enough we might get some important clues. Secondly, the sexual harassment charges that I've apparently accumulated (What is a hug among strangers, I ask you! Honestly?) will let me into the police department if the need should arise. I hope it doesn't; I'm rather unfond of being caught.

We also spoke at length about the broadcast itself. She had seen the entire thing, though not live, as I did, and she agreed with me on many of its points. We differed mainly in that I thought L-san was brilliantly cunning, while she thought him merely crafty. I still have no idea where she is.

I'm thinking of getting a pet. Or at least a tattoo. I'm terribly bored.


	5. Chapter 5 Ami

Fhira: Okay, back to Ami as narrator. There's a bit of overlap at the beginning from Tori's(my) previous section, but it seems quite different through Ami's eyes. Her inferiority complex is even worse than in real life... at least I'm certainly hoping it is. Anyway the majority of the chapter is new, and won't be covered in Tori's chapter, so have fun.

Oh, and at some point soon, there will be a humor side story for ActionFry. Sayuka and I are working out the plot and basis for it, and we may see if we can get Neko to write it. It'll be a oneshot, probably about a "battle" between the Trio (Nano, Fly, Thought) and the Duo (Mello, Matt).

* * *

I was a bit nervous as my father and I got out of the car. I had never been to Wammy's House, but had heard that it was an orphanage for geniuses. I knew that I wouldn't fit in here any more than I did in Japan.

I jumped a bit when a girl about my age greeted us. I hadn't heard her coming up behind us, and she had taken me by surprise.

"Hello," she said. After my father explained our situation, she offered to show us Roger-san's office. "I'm going by Victory at the moment," she introduced herself, "but I get called Tori most of the time, so you can use either."

I listened quietly and carefully as Victory-san explained her position at Wammy's House. From what I had gathered, she seemed to be a very important person. I also learned about three people named Near, Mello, and Matt. They seemed a bit odd, but interesting nonetheless.

As we entered an office-like room, we were greeted by an elderly man, obviously Roger-san, as Victory-san had called him that. After exchanging light greetings, Victory-san offered to show me the rest of the orphanage.

"I--Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to..." I said shyly.

"Don't mind at all." Victory-san grinned as she replied. "We'll see you later," she told Roger-san and my father as she pulled me out of the room.

"Um...." I was a bit hesitant. Victory-san laughed as she let go.

"Those two want to talk," she explained to me. "The only reason we weren't told to go was formalities and politeness. And I'll take full responsibilty, anyway."

"All right..." I said. "So, where are we going?"

"To find a Trio, first," Victory-san told me. "Then I'll show you anywhere we haven't already been. The Trio are three of the orphans here... they work together. There's Nano, Fly and Thought."

"Are those their names? Or titles?" I asked, though I doubted that they would be titles.

Victory-san explained that they were code names, but they may as well be real, since nobody here ever used their real names. It was kind of cool, but it really didn't feel right. Although she had told me that 'right' didn't always matter, I still didn't like it.

A few moments later, we stopped in front of a large doorway.

"This is the library," Victory-san told me, looking inside. "And there's Nano. Give me a moment, please...." She walked into the library to speak to Nano-san, leaving me waiting in the hallway. Five minutes later, she returned. "Okay, now that that's done, to the tour...."

About an hour had passed when we finally came to the end of the tour. I had hardly said a thing during the entire time, except to lower by head shyly and give a soft "hello" to anyone I was introduced to. The last room we entered was almost full of people, most of them between the ages of eight and fourteen, all working on something or chattering away.

"...And finally, this is the common room," Victory-san told me. There was a sudden crash near the back of the room. Looking toward the source of the noise, I noticed a white-haired boy whose Lego tower had apparently been destroyed by a taller, blond boy. At least, I assumed the blond was a boy, from his voice (he was yelling at the other boy), but he _could_ have been a girl.... Leaning against a wall, seemingly oblivious to the chaos around him, was a boy with reddish-brown hair, playing a video game.

"...I'll be right back," Victory-san sighed. Though she had said she'd be back, I couldn't help but follow her over.

"That's for stealing my chocolate earlier!" the blond yelled at the white-haired boy.

"Mello, didn't I talk to you, oh, two hours ago? Or have you forgotten already?" Victory-san asked sarcastically, though calmly.

"It wasn't my fault," Mello tried to defend himself. Meanwhile, the other boy cleaned up his Legos, exchanging them for a puzzle.

After a few more moments of scolding, Gameboy-playing, and puzzle-building, the redhead finally looked up from his game. "So, Tori, who is this?" he asked.

Victory-san looked up. I had been standing a mere eighteen or so inches away, watching.

"Oh," Victory-san said, "this is Ami Mizumi. Her father is visiting for a week, and she came along. Ami, these are Matt, Mello, and Near," she said, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Um... h-hello..." I quietly greeted them, bowing my head nervously. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Victory-san led me back to the office, where we found Roger-san and my father.

"Ah, there you are," Roger-san greeted us. "So, how was the tour?"

"...It was very informative," I replied quietly. "And interesting. ...I enjoyed it a lot." I diverted my gaze to the floor, worried that my quiet, hesitant reaction may have offended someone; when my dad smiled at me, though, I knew that I hadn't.

"Part of what we were discussing," Roger began, "is what to do with Ami while her father is visiting. We decided, for one, that you would watch over her, Tori. That is, if it's not an inconvenience to you."

"It's not," Victory-san said.

"Good. Also, Ami, we've decided that you might like to experience some time as a normal Wammy's child; with your consent, of course."

My eyes widened in surprise, then sparkled with hope. Even if it was just to humor me, I would be able to spend some time around other norm--well, not-so-normal--kids, and maybe even make a friend.

"How does it sound, Ami?" my father asked.

"A-are you sure?" I asked Roger-san and Victory-san. "It wouldn't be a bother? I can... really do this?"

"It wouldn't be a bother at all," Victory-san told me, and Roger-san nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that's settled, why don't we all get some rest?" my father suggested. "It's been a long day, and I'm sure we could all use a good night's sleep."

_Come to think of it,_ I wondered as I was being shown to my room, _didn't dad say he had important business to attend to? It seems more like he's on vacation...._ Ignoring this unimportant bit of curiosity, I put on my pajamas and went to bed, reflecting on the day that had just passed, and wondering about what was to come.

_I'd like to become friends with those four,_ I decided. _...But that's if they actually accept me...._ I released a slightly discouraged sigh, and went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6 Yuki

Fhira: Hm.... Not much to say about this one, actually. Except at the end, if you want to say that Light's reaction to Yuki's IQ is out of character, remember this is his public persona. His private reaction will be in a sidestory later. Sayuka's writing it, so I don't know exactly when, but it should be up fairly soon. I think we'll start a collection of sidestories, it'll be easier than having them all separate, I think.

* * *

I woke with a start, not used to having an alarm blaring in my ears. I slammed my fist down on the offending thing, effectively shutting off the irritating beeps. Kyira stretched as I crawled out of bed and staggered into the shower.

After I was done with trying to dry my overly-long hair, I pulled my book bag off the couch and walked out the door.

Ten minutes later, I was walking into the school's office. I sighed.

"Hello. New here?" A blond lady asked me.

"Hi. New to the school, not the area," I replied, carefully making my voice polite.

"Your name?"

"Yuki... Shio." I made the snap decision to adjust my last name. I had a plan to deal with any problems that would occur.

"Hmm.... We don't have that name listed."

"Maybe I was listed under Shioru. My last name has been changed due to family problems."

"Yes, we do have that name. But I need proof that you are who you say you are."

"My student ID is 312560. Birthday is August 6," I reeled off politely. I pulled out my drivers' liscense and handed it to her.

"This is you. Okay. Here's you classes, and all the paperwork for success here. Now, what size shirt and skirt?"

"I'm not wearing a skirt." I balked.

"Well, you can't wear the boys' uniform!"

"The dress code states 'students will wear a uniform' and does not specify _which_ uniform," I countered, still polite.

The lady spluttered before giving me a dirty look.

"Fine. Sizes," she snapped at me. I calmly told her and then was dismissed. I stretched as soon as I was out of the office. I headed off to find my locker and homeroom. I noticed that some, or rather, nearly all the students were staring at me. _I guess that my waist-long chestnut hair needs to get cut._ I deftly twisted my hair into a style that made it look like it was mid-back length. The staring did not stop. I growled under my breath. Then nearly punched the owner of the hand on my shoulder. Instead, I snapped my head around at the same time I flinched.

"Light! You _idiot_! I almost punched you," I hissed, trying to lower my stupid heart rate, and stop shaking. Light laughed, and heads turned. Then whispers started.

"Really Yuki. As if I bite, hard." He chuckled. Eyes went wide. I groaned under my breath.

"What?" he demanded, looking confused.

"Listen," I whispered.

He fell silent, looking confused.

"My God, did you see that?"

"Who's the chick?"

"Who the hell does she think she is!"

"I wonder if they're dating... It'd explain his lack of interest in girls."

We heard some giggles, caught a few glares, and I heard a few guys say something about me that made me want to go punch them. Light was pale.

"...Oh...."

"Looks like we'll have to fake the dating right from the start. They'll get tired of the topic quicker that way." I huffed, annoyed. "And I'm cutting my hair!" That came out as a low snarl.

"What does cutting your hair have to do with the dire situation that we're in?" Light asked, confusion and annoyance layered in his voice.

"They'll stare less if my hair's shorter than the waist-long mop I have now," I ranted, pulling out my schedule. Light tugged it out of my hand.

"Hey!"

"...You mean you're in _all_ my classes, too!" Light hissed.

"Eh, I'm sorry?"

"Ugh. Oh well." Light sighed. Then dragged me to class. The fact that he'd grabbed my hand made the stares return. He pushed me into the classroom first.

"New student," he informed the teacher. I was then subjected to the torment of an introduction, then being stared at while the teacher dug out a seating chart.

"The only empty seat is beside Yagami." So, I ended up next to Light. He closed his eyes in exasperation, but he was smiling slightly.

I sighed and pulled out a plain notebook and began taking notes. That was when I noticed Ryuk floating around the classroom. He paused beside Light.

"She's smart."

I pulled a sheet of loose leaf paper out and wrote a reply to the idiotic shinigami.

'You expected me to be stupid? Why, cause I'm a girl?'

"No. Not many people can keep up with Light."

'I see. Well I'm going to give him a complete run for his pride.'

"Ms. Shio, perhaps you could answer?"

I replied, sounding bored, without looking up.

"Er, that's correct." The teacher sounded baffled. Light looked dazed.

"Nice," he whispered to me. I shrugged.

~~Lunch Period~~

I followed Light into the lunch room, both of us silent. I sat at the table he picked, dropping my bag on the floor. Ryuk drifted away through the lunchroom.

"So, like the school?"

"Nehya..." I grumbled.

"What?"

"Neh-ya!"

"..."

"No and ya."

"Oh!" Light laughed. I rolled my eyes. _Idiot._ We spent the next few minutes in an awkward silence. Light played around with a straw while he ate. I worked on my own food, staring blankly out the window.

"Is that your natural hair color?"

"Eh? Oh, yea. It is. Why?"

"Looks too pretty to be natural." He flushed, then growled.

"Why am I so talkative with you?"

"Ah! Well, um, er... I'm easy to trust. My aura relaxes people? Maybe cause of my notebook, maybe you know a smart girl when you see her?" I rambled, panic in my eyes.

"Maybe I'm an idiot," he mumbled, low enough that I was certain that I was not meant to hear.

~~Halfway through last class~~

"Miss Shio. Report to the office."

"Okay...." I grabbed my bag and slowly walked to the office.

"Ms. Shio. We need to record our students' IQ for research purposes. You're the only one out."

So I was set down at a computer. Took the stupid test for twenty minutes. Got to go back to class after hearing my results.

~~End of school~~

"Yuki, why'd you get pulled?"

"I.Q."

"Oh?"

"I'm the same as you. Just marginally higher."

"Damn, lady."

I laughed, and he laughed with me. I noticed people staring again. "Now what?"

"We plan our next move."


	7. Chapter 7 Tori

Fhira: Okay, my second chapter.... Not much else to say, really.... Sorry for the wait; we got distracted with school, way too many essays and an art contest. Should be done with that now... and Ami should be able to yell at us to remember soon too. Anyway, to the story; enjoy.  


* * *

My first decision upon waking up was that insomnia was a curse.

My second was that Ami had an inferiority complex.

My third was that I really ought to just go get a degree in therapy.

Nonetheless, I got up and dressed. I'd showered the night before, so it only took me about half an hour to get ready, even being lazy about it, and I was downstairs in the kitchen by six. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't alone.

"Mello, get out of the chocolate."

He turned around and scowled, no more surprised a being found than I was at finding him. "Why? It's mine."

"One, you haven't had breakfast yet. Two, it's not yours."

"Well no one else eats it!"

"Well you never let them have a chance, do you?" I asked. I didn't give Mello much time to answer, but he wouldn't have anyway. I'd tried before. "Shoo. Out. And if I find you in here again before noon, I'm adding to the meditation lessons." Mello left with--for him--minimal complaints and swearing. And no need for me to physically drag him out, which was a vast improvement from over a year ago when I'd first arrived. I wandered around the kitchen for a few more minutes, mostly to let Mello leave.

I went back upstairs, going into my room without encountering anyone else. I was fairly sure Mello would be back in the chocolate in half an hour, but he'd at least be discreet. I'd only call him on it if he didn't hide it well enough. So instead of going back down to chase Mello I pulled out my cell phone.

It rang several times before I got an answer. "Ello!"

"Have you figured out where you're going yet?"

"To the land of the crazies with tea!"

"Uh-huh. Hello cat."

"Meow!"

"Meow. Where are you?"

"Japan!"

"I certainly hope so. Where in Japan?"

"Oh... um... how do you say it?"

I sighed. My twin was entertaining, but it could be hard to get a straight answer that made sense. "Nevermind, I know. It's really me. So, what have you got?"

"Well, everything on L's broadcast was right; it all works . I'm looking for all the elite high schools. I'm so bored, I might just go back to school."

"Why only elite schools?"

"Well, he's supposed to be really smart... but so were we... and he could just have someone directing him.... Okay, I'll look."

"No one's directing him. If he was naive enough to let that happen, he'd also be trying to show off, forewarning the media or something. I'm pretty sure he's doing this on his own."

"Why all the schools, then?"

"He's smart, we know that. But that doesn't mean he has good grades. He believes in a really ruthless justice, so he's probably had some exposure to criminals. Could be family, movies or just growing up with it. The last is less likely, but still possible."

"So what, I go to every school and look for smart people who hate Kira?"

I sighed. There were too many options. "Maybe, as a last resort. Call Meg, see what she's found."

"Okays! Byeses!"

I laughed. Talking to Embly always made anyone feel better. She was like Prozac made human or something. Assuming Prozac works. "Meow."

"Myow!"

I sat for a few minutes thinking before dialing again. "Ryan?"

"That'd be me."

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't. How much time do you have?"

"Mm... not much."

"Videogames and scifi aside."

"Anime? Manga?"

"Also aside."

Ryan sighed. "I'm not doing much. Why?"

"Feel like hacking?"

"Sure." Ryan sounded more interested.

"How long would it take you to hack every high school in Japan, find out if they keep track of their students' IQ, and the students' IQs over... let's try over 125."

Ryan was silent for a moment. "You don't want much, do you?"

"If you'd rather send me every student with their IQ, you can do that."

I could practically hear Ryan rolling his eyes. "No, thank you."

"Okay then. Can you do it?"

"Sure. Who knows, maybe it'll be a challenge."

"A school?"

"Finding the stuff more than getting in. What if they don't have IQs?"

"Either a list of each school and all of its students, or look for them somewhere else. Either way I want the name of anyone over 125 and anyone you can't find. And the school's location."

I guessed that Ryan was nodding, and could hear him sigh. "When do you want it?"

"Whenever you can get it done."

"All right." Ryan sighed again, but more thoughtfully than resigned. "Give me... at least two hours, no more than tomorrow."

"Okay." I was pleased--I'd expected Ryan to take tomorrow as the minimum time. He really must be bored.

"What's everyone else doing?"

"Em's still touring. Once we decide on a school, hopefully who as well, she'll join. She's calling Meg to look up the schools themselves. The rest, you know as well as I do."

"So I can't pass anything off to her?"

"No."

"Damn. Okay, then, that all?"

"Yeah."

"Bye."

"Mm-hm."

I hung up and went to look for Ami.


	8. Chapter 8 Embly

Fhira: (dying by insomnia) Okay.... Well, ordinarily I'd be laughing hysterically right now and dying that way, but as of now I'm busy falling asleep and trying not to. And I spent a few days dying when I first got it, prior to editing, which really wasn't that much... primarily matters of elipses marks that fanfiction ignores anyway. So enjoy, and do try not to suffocate yourself while laughing. Embly is hysterical. Now, I'm going to go collapse.  


* * *

I am a bit concerned that my toaster is using some form of radiation to toast my bread. I've been brought up with toasters that glow when they're heating up, and this one doesn't, and it worries me. Just what sort of isotopes am I eating for breakfast every morning?

But anyway, I've gotten a turtle. Perhaps not the most exciting pet, but since it's very difficult to kill I think I've made a wise decision. Plus, it's so cute! Awwww... and I can paint its shell if I get really really bored, which I may. I've already moved the furniture around my flat at least three times, and I've barely been here a month. Tori-chan (My sister--I have been made to swear not to call her "Vicky" ever. EVER.) says that I should just take up painting or something. But between writing, running, and rearranging, I simply haven't the time.

So I have left the house. Going into town is so exciting since I've discovered that the police here are much better at remembering faces than those I'm used to! It's like a little scandal every time I make it home again without ending up in the gulag. Though technically that's German. I think. Ah well, it's a fantastic rush.

I needed more eggs, some lettuce (Turuturu-sama is such a fascinating creature!), tea, and I can't remember what else... but that's not the point. On the way into the main city my telephone rang, and of course I answered it. I mean, what sort of prick doesn't answer their phone when it's right in their pocket? So, of course, since Tori-chan is the only one with both my number and the bravery, recklessness and disregard to sanity to willingly explose herself to me, it was her. As always, we discussed the case at hand, Kira-san being the object of our discussion this week. And for the last few; perhaps this is why I'm so bored...? Who knows.

Oh! Right, I've forgotten.... As of yesterday, Kira-san has started killing on the hour, every hour. Apparently, I hear from Tori-chan, who hears from Ryan-kun, who heard from the NPA's website (it is fascinating how they seem to always tell him these things), L-san had figured that Kira-san must be a high school student based on the timing of his killings, and since then Kira-san has spaced his killings much better. It's a great clue for us, but also a great setback. It tells us that he can time his killings, but at the same time it takes away a bit of our definitive evidence. So here's the basic conversation (after Hello, password, verification, second password, etc.):

"So, Neko-chan."

"Is that my name? I thought it was-"

"Shh! Jeez, someone might hear you. Kira might hear you."

"Kira-san? Probably not. Ho, what news, oh herald?"

"Wow...."

"Amazed at my prowess? No, that cannot be."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've sort of lost track myself. So.... What were you saying?"

"Nothing, yet."

"Oh, okay. What were you about to say?"

"Kira has started killing more often. Within the last six hours he's killed not only on the hour but also every half hour. We need you to keep your eyes open more than ever, okay?"

"Yes.... But that's so strange! That tree is in lovely form... anyway! He was so specific all yesterday--why all of a sudden add another set? It's bizzare!"

"Yes, Neko-chan, that's why we want to figure it out."

"But it doesn't fit the pattern, or his personality, at all!" Here I assume I started pacing about, since the people in the crowd around me (downtown is SO damn busy!) started swearing at me, and I tend to pace when I'm excited. Or jump, but that's a different kind of excited, you know? "There's no continuity here--if he had started with half hours I'd understand, but it's not even a perfect twenty four hours since he started. It's still regular, but--I'VE GOT IT!!"

Everyone around me jumped. They just moved the Earth off its course by something like a micrometer, those silly humans! Don't they know that if we jump enough we'll hurtle out of orbit into the sun or Mars or something?

"THERE ARE TWO OF THEM!"

Apparently I speak loudly when excited--who knew?

"Neko-chan, what language are you in? ...And I think I'm deaf now, what did you say?"

"TWO KIRA-SANS!" I paused a moment. "Was that the proper way to make it plural? Tori-chan, how would I--WHOA!!"

The "WHOA!!" was because a strange man with great (really, really great) hair had grabbed my arm and was steering me steadily out of the crowd that my behaviour had gathered. You'd think they'd never seen a crazy person before! Honestly.... And yet I'm the one with a warrant out. How ironic. The man, who introduced himself rather more formally as Ryosho about three blocks later, led me eventually to the entrance to what appeared to be a hotel. A bloody expensive hotel, by the looks of it. All hotels usually look the same to me but this one stood out.... Odd, indeed.

Ryosho-san glanced about and turned back to me. "What was that you said about two Kiras?"

"Neko-chan, what's going on?"

I had nearly forgotten my telephone was still in my hand. Ryosho-san had apparently not noticed it at all, because he grabbed said hand that held said telephone and snapped both hand and phone shut. Shock and Outrage!

"My name is Korahana Miei, thank you for asking." I smiled and bowed politely. "The person on the phone was and is my sister, Korahana, and will continue to be so unless by some freak of nature being hung up on killed her... Oh my Doctor!" I called Tori-chan back. "Hi Kora-chan!"

"Neko-chan, what the hell--"

"No time to talk, I think I've been kidnapped. Ryosho-san seems kind enough, and rather attractive." Here I looked at him, as was proper, and smiled. "I just had to check that you were alive. Did you catch my last statement before?"

"Yes, but Neko-chan, what are-"

"Much love, Kora-chan! S'later!" I turned off my telephone. "Monseiur Ryosho, I believe you had a question?"

He stared straight at me--his eyes are the blackest eyes I've ever seen and he looks as though he hasn't slept in days. I mean, neither have I, but that's natural.... He looks completely exhausted, like he hasn't seen sunlight in years--which come to think of it he probably hasn't. We were both lucky that he was out when he was, and that Turuturu-sama needed lettuce. "What do you know of Kira?"

I stared back. My green eyes must not be quite so intimidating, but hopefully my leaking crazy was enough to scare him a little. "Only what my sister and I have guessed."

"What have you guessed, and where is your sister?"

"Kora-chan is... somewhere. Europe, I think. We have guessed that L-san is right, that Kira-san is freed of normal moral codes by more than conceit, and that there are in fact two Kira-sans running about as of roughly six hours ago."

"Yes, the pattern that he--"

"Or she."

"Yes, or she--had created has been broken, and not in an expected fashion. Your logic makes sense." He kept staring at me and brought a thumb to his lips. "Why are you telling me this?"

I considered a titch. "Well," I said, "you seem like you're against Kira-san. All for the fight, agreed?" I grinned at him. My "charms" don't usually work on men, but I guess Ryosho-san is a bit above (or deleted from) normal standards, since he then asked me to come with him. Together we went into the hotel.

If he expects to keep me here long, I'll need to go fetch Turuturu-sama.... Oh dear.


	9. Chapter 9 Ami

Fhira: Yes, yes, we know we're late. It's not our fault, or at least not entirely; Murphy, reality and homework overloads decided to all activate on three of us at the same time for a few weeks, and Neko is perpetually overloaded anyway. Not to mention twin-wide writers' block. So, anyway, here's Ami's third chapter; the next will be out tomorrow; it's written with about half a page left to type and maybe fifteen minutes of editing if I'm slow about it. So, anyway, it shall be there, and if it's not then yell at me, not Sayuka; I'm the one in charge of updating so it's useless to go attack her through deviant art.  


* * *

I awoke early the next morning, around six fifteen or so. Both of my parents were still sleeping in the other half of the room. Though I couldn't see them due to the sliding screen, I could hear my father snoring.

Since I'd already taken a bath the night before, it only took about twenty minutes for me to prepare for the day ahead.

I squeaked softly as I rubbed my eyes, an odd habit of mine since childhood. Everything was silent around me, and since we weren't at home, I couldn't just enter the kitchen and make breakfast before my parents got up, which wouldn't be for a while, anyway. Finally, I decided to go and explore the orphanage. It would be a lot easier to take everything in with fewer people around.

As I had expected, the hallways were quiet. I stepped as softly as possible so as not to wake anybody up as I tried to navigate my way through the enormous building. A soft clatter coming from the—kitchen, maybe?—made me flinch. _Wow,_ I thought, surprised. _I didn't think anyone else was awake_….

Cautiously, I peered around the doorway. The first thing that I noticed was that it was, indeed, the kitchen. The second was the blond from yesterday—Mello-san, if I was correct—eating chocolate from a large bowl.

I stood there watching for a while, though I'm not sure why. Probably for a lack of anything else to do. After two or three minutes, Mello-san looked toward the door. I quickly darted my head back and stood flat against the wall.

_What am I doing?_ I asked myself. _I finally have the chance to talk to someone, and maybe even make a friend. Why am I hiding?_ I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to settle my nerves. Once I was a bit more confident, I opened my eyes and stepped into the kitchen. "U-um… hi—" I stopped midway. The kitchen was empty. _He must have thought I was someone here to discipline him_, I thought with a sigh. _Why didn't I just say hello when I had the chance? I'm so stupid…. At this rate, I'll never be a successful investigator_.

I went back to wandering, now a bit less enthusiastic. My self-esteem dropped even more as I thought about the day ahead, where I would have to try to fit in with everyone else. _As if that could ever happen_….

Seeing as Victory-san had kept me out of the library before, I assumed that I wasn't allowed to enter it, so that room was passed by. As I entered the common room, I saw—Near-san, I believe—sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the room. Once again, I darted out and pressed my back to the wall. Remembering what had happened earlier, though, I realized that I couldn't keep hiding if I ever wanted to make friends, and slowly moved back to the doorway.

Surprisingly, the room hadn't been emptied this time. I wasn't sure if this brought me relief or disappointment, actually.

Heart pounding, I slowly inched toward Near-san. I had considered just going back a few times, but quickly pushed the thought away. This time, I was determined to approach someone on my own.

Either my loud heartbeat gave me away, or Near-san was extremely observant.

"Hello," he said without looking up.

I squeaked and flinched, startled. _Wow, he's good._

"U-um… hello…" I quietly replied. _I am really not good at this!_ I needed to think of something to say quickly, but nothing came to mind. _Okay, I just need to relax. Be calm. It's not like I'm trying to approach a decaying, tottering, armed zombie or anything_…. I shuddered at the mental image of said creature.

"So, um…" I began, trying to steady my voice, "what are you doing over there?" After a few moments of silence, my eyes darted to the floor and I began to fidget nervously. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be there…?

"Lego Godzilla," he finally replied.

I blinked. "Huh?"

"I'm replicating Godzilla with Legos," he clarified, looking up at me.

"Ohh…. Umm… i-if it's okay, may I…?" Near-san moved aside a bit, revealing the most amazing Godzilla replica that Legos could build. The current scene showed the gigantic monster storming through Lego Tokyo, a crushed 'car' under his foot, and people 'running' in a frenzy.

"…That one's a bit off," I muttered as I saw the Tokyo Tower construction. Near-san tilted his head in reply. "U-um, I mean your Tokyo Tower," I stammered, suddenly realizing my slip of tongue. "I-it…. If I may…." Near-san watched with—was it interest, maybe?—as I built a different tower model. "It's a bit more like this, in this scene," I said softly, glancing up. "…I think…."

There were footsteps and muttering, and then a figure looked into the room.

"Ami, there you are!" sighed Victory-san.


	10. Chapter 10 Tori

Fhira: And as promised, chapter ten. Hm.... Not much to say, really. I know it's late at night, but I only promised the day and I've been busy, so no complaining. ...Though I doubt anyone would anyway. Nonetheless, here it is, and you can thank Sayuka because she wanted to apologize for taking so long with the last one; I would have just let everyone wait. So thank her, here it is, and enjoy.

* * *

I stayed in my room for a while after I called Ryan. The Kira case was fascinating to me but it could seem overwhelming, even with the whole group helping.

…Or perhaps, because of the whole group helping.

Between growing up with my twin and playing soccer, I thought in a team mindset almost all the time. Embly and I had always worked together, even when not allowed; we'd developed an adaptation of Morse code that let us talk without getting caught. We could have used it to cheat on tests, but we really didn't need to, so most of the time we just used it to make sure our answers were different; we'd been accused of cheating more than once early in school because our answers were too similar. No one, apparently, considered the fact that we were identical twins and studied together to be enough to account for it. So we 'talked' in class and decided which questions each of us would get wrong.

Nonetheless, we both look at things with a team mindset. So, upon deciding to try to solve the Kira case, instead of thinking 'what can we do,' we started thinking more like 'who can we drag into helping us?' I couldn't leave Wammy's and am the calmer twin, so I got to coordinate everyone and fill the unofficial leader role. Neko had been exploring various countries for the last few years, so she headed to Japan.

Ryan was a tech fanatic, much like Nano and Matt, and had—while failing half his classes—built a supercomputer more powerful than the army's at ten, and started hacking the FBI just for the sake of it on a weekly basis a few months after that. Meg functioned almost like a library: she was the research expert, on or offline, and could find anything. The first thing I'd had them do was find every reference to any of the team no matter where it was, and either delete it or change the names. Josh was half spy with a disguise of comedian, Carol was a social party girl who could find anyone (and get them to agree to anything), and Maria was a hyper energizer bunny incarnate who loved kittens and cute things and had family connections to the Mafia.

And I'm supposed to make sense out of all of them….

I suppose my descriptions so far don't make them seem too crazy, but they are. Ryan's the sanest among them, actually, which is not saying much. So, between information we'd found—far too much—the sense it made—not nearly enough—and the personalities I was supposed to keep sane—chaos incarnate, six times over—I was sometimes overwhelmed.

Not that it would stop me, of course. Or any of us. I'd just feel the need to spend an hour complaining to Embly about it. Which would have been possible, except I had things I was supposed to do—namely keep track of a certain guest with an inferiority complex—and Embly had most likely run off in search of shiny things as soon as we hung up. I really wanted to call her Dory and dangle something shiny in front of her; see if she named it her Squishy.

Random twin-taunting thoughts aside, I went to look for Ami.

Ami proved difficult to find. She wasn't in her room—though I did wake her parents up—and the only clue I could find was from Mello, who was certain that he'd seen her spying on him for me. Personally I doubted it; I figured I'd remember if I'd asked her to.

Eventually I gave up and just started searching Wammy's. After a few minutes of searching, I found her in the common room doing something with Near's Legos. Near looked slightly bemused, but was becoming steadily more amused.

"There you are."

Ami squeaked, jumped, and dropped the Legos she was holding. Near picked them up and finished the tower she'd been building as she spun around. "Oh! Um, uh, hello Victory-san," Ami said while—apparently—attempting to bow while sitting on the floor. The way she sat was almost identical to Near, so it wasn't quite as impossible as it should have been.

I walked in and looked at the Lego city they'd built. "…You know, there are Lego building contests. You two ought to enter."

"No, um, not me, Near-san built it," Ami said immediately.

"Not what I saw. But I also know Near's the only one who'd stay up all night to build this much, so I'm guessing you both worked on it."

"N-not…. Um…." Ami didn't seem to know what to say.

"She corrected the tower," Near said.

"Really? Well congratulations; it's rare that Near remembers something wrong… well, and that anyone can catch him, anyway. So good job."

"Really?" Ami sounded like she didn't quite dare hope.

"Yeah." I really wanted to know where that inferiority complex was from. "Anyway, we need to go see Roger for your schedule."

"My schedule?"

"Uh-huh. For your classes." I turned to head back out of the common room. Or playroom, though I always had to deal with a large number of angry genuises when I called it that. "Near, you've got class in an hour and a half, go eat."

"I'd rather not."

"I'd rather yes."

"Fine."

I dragged Ami out while Near began picking up Legos, even though Ami kept looking back and saying something about cleaning. "He got them out, Ami, he can put them back."

"But you said he needs to eat... and there's not much time...."

I almost snorted, but I suspected that Ami would have taken it badly. "It's plenty of time, and Near won't eat anyway. Quite frankly I'm not sure what or when he eats, but I suspect that either he'd worried about his appearance, bordering anorexic and doesn't want anyone to know, which I find highly unlikely, or he loves sugar and chocolate as much as Mello and is the cause of Mello's random days of fury over disappearing chocolate, which I find almost as unlikely. Either way, I can't think of any other possibilities so I must consider the wildly unlikely options, but it's been going on for as long as I've been here at least, so he must be eating something."

"How long have you been here?"

"Ah...." I had to think about that; time in Wammy's house didn't correlate well with time outside. "Two.... No, about a year and a half. Technically a bit less. Why?"

"Oh, um, I was just wondering."

I was fairly certain there was more to it than that, but let it go. "All right. Well, Roger should be in his office," I tilted my head at the door we'd paused beside, "with your parents. They'll help you get your schedule set up, and I'll be back in half an hour to show you to the classes." I gave her a slight nudge toward the door, but left her to go in by herself.

Wammy's Class Rule number one: you can't afford to depend on anyone but yourself.

Gemini Amendment number one: that has not once stopped anybody.


	11. Chapter 11 Yuki

Fhira: Well, here it is. Chapter eleven, the third by Yuki/Sayuka. I typed it this time; I'm typing all but Neko's now, and I typed this one quickly, and edited it quickly too, to get it up today. So yell at me for typos. The reason I was hurrying is something we've been working on for a while. Also going up today is Background Threads, a collection of sidestories to Convergence. Yes, that's a relatively shameless self-advertisement. Ignore it if you want. Only the first is up so far, the second will be up soon; it's been written for a while but comes second in the timeline. The first is Trio vs. Duo, dedicated to ActionFry (yes, we're slow, we know it, but it is done... and long, and hopefully humorous). All of the sidestories will explain references and details within Convergence itself so I would recommend you read for the added understanding (and my need to not do all that work for nothing; I am not normally a humor writer; I've written sixty page novellas with a tenth the work I put into that...), but it's not at all necessary for the plot to be understood. It's more of an enrichment/humor/reward for consistent reviewer thing. So, I've babbled; here is Sayuka's chapter, probably the longest yet. Read and enjoy.

* * *

I sighed at the kids staring at the strawberry blond and myself. I gently nudged Light in the side.

"Act your part," I growled very quietly. Light looked slightly flustered as he rested his arm over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I almost giggled out loud. _Man, who woulda thunk it?_

"Yo, Light!" a brown-haired boy called, waving in a hyper manner. Light half-waved back, using the hand on my shoulder.

"What're you up to, Cody?" Light asked amiably. I did my best to look curious.

"Eh…. Not anything worth talking about," Cody grumbled, then brightened again. "Say, who's she?"

I didn't much like the way he was looking at me. Apparently, neither did Light.

"New student," Light replied tersely. His friend stared at me for a moment.

"You up for somethin'?"

"No, sorry. Light-kun and I have a study, well more of a tutoring session," I replied shyly. _Ugh._

"See you." I raised my eyebrow as Light towed me off. We waved to a very bewildered-looking Cody before leaving the school block.

"I need to get to the library," I informed Light a little while later.

"Why?"

"Hacking the database. My old ID can still be traced," I whispered to him when we were standing at a crosswalk.

"Oh. Well, let's get it over with." Light sighed as we started walking.

It took me around ten minutes to hack into the school, and even less than that to change my information. I encrypted a couple of things, then threw in a scrambler to screw up my trail, and prevent my real data from being easily recovered. After backing my way out of the database, covering my tracks the entire way, I logged off. Then I deliberately selected a book on art, checked it out, and let Light tow me off again.

"Why the book?" Light queried, looking thoroughly bewildered.

"In case video cameras filmed me. There are so many art books that my time on the PC is appropriate. Plus, I wanted to get this out anyway," I smugly replied.

"Sneaky girl," Light muttered. I giggled, then put on my 'normal' face as we reached his house. I waved to his mom and replied with our 'study' excuse. I silently followed Light upstairs and into his room, after he did the customary security.

I set my bag on the floor, and sat on his bed. Light shut and locked the door, then threw himself into his desk chair. He hacked into the FBI database while he explained his hour-apart killings.

"That's giving them the major clue that you can set the time…" I mused. "But also mocks the student theory…."

"My plan exactly." Light nodded.

"Okay. Now we double the victims. Set the deaths half an hour apart. I take half, you take half." I nodded vindictively.

"…This will gain us what?"

"The pattern breaks, they surmise there's two Kiras." I paused for air; I was talking way too much. "Then, we stop killing for a couple days. Lay low and let them wonder what's going on. The next deaths will be planned then."

We spent the next twenty minutes writing furiously in our Death Notes.

"Light! Sayu and I are going shopping! Behave!"

"Mom!" Light sounded outraged. I giggled. He mock glared at me.

"Oh, I'm scared now!" I informed him, acting terrified.

"Light, switch Notes with Yuki. She's more enter—guh!" Ryuk spluttered.

Mayu's tail was wrapped tight around his neck. She was snarling rage at the other Death God.

"…You're an idiot," I informed him. Light was nearly suffocating himself with not laughing out loud. He finally gave up and ended up gasping for air.

"Ryuk, I knew you were bored, but I didn't think you were suicidal!" Light laughed. The fish-like death god grumbled and slunk into the wall. Mayu sighed heavily, returning to the customary place of behind my back. _Looks like Light is relaxed around me,_ I mused to myself, absentmindedly running my hand through my hair. _I'm getting this thing cut._

"What're you thinking about? You look worried."

"Ah, nothing," I murmured, blushing scarlet. "I think I'll get the mop cut tomorrow." I sighed heavily. Light stared at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Why? Yu look fine."

"Gets in the way. Also, I'm way too noticeable," I replied. Light seemed mollified.

"How short?"

"Maybe a little longer than yours."

"…No. Too short."

"…You care why?"

"Uh…." Now Light was the one who looked uncomfortable and worried.

"No reason?" I asked, half wary.

"Yeah," he replied weakly. I laughed, falling backwards to sprawl out on his bed.

"How'd you get the scar?" he queried from his desk chair. I blinked.

"You're perceptive. Most people don't see it," I muttered. _Wish you hadn't seen it._

"Remember who you're dealing with," he reprimanded, sounding stern. I rolled my blue eyes at him.

"I got it a year ago," I grudgingly started. "My cousin and I got into a fight. A bad one. I walked away with a fractured wrist, three cracked ribs, and a jagged gash in my back, along with the wound on my chin. Got that from an uppercut punch with a metal chain wrapped around his knuckles." My voice was dark and layered with pain.

"I'm sorry I asked…." Light sighed, eyes wide with shock. I smiled lazily at him. _He's got pretty eyes._

"It's fine s'long as no one else finds out about my violent past." I laughed.

"I won't tell. Cross my heart," Light replied lightly. We both laughed at the irony.

"Myeh…. I'd better get home. I've got a pet to take care of. And an I.Q. printout to hide in my files." Light's eyes narrowed at my mention of I.Q..

"You're really higher than me?"

"Yeah. By thirty or so." I laughed, while he glared darkly.

"See ya in school!" I waved at him as I let myself out.

"Yeah. See ya Yuki," he called, waving.

He still looked annoyed. _Ha, bet you'll throw a fit_. I smiled as I began the twenty minute walk home.

"Kyira, c'mere!" I called, kicking my shoes off inside the door. I heard a series of yips and barks as I walked into my living room. Two golden eyes peered at me from under the table.

"What in hell are you doing?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. She whined, slowly crawling out. "Ah. Doesn't matter."

Right when I was about to go to bed my cell phone went off, scaring me.

"H-Hello?" I frowned at my shaky voice.

"Yuki. I think I may have to see a psychologist." It was Light.

"Wait… why?" I asked, totally baffled.

"Sayu and Mom came home during an argument with Ryuk." He sighed.

"Yeah, arguing with air is never a good sign," I replied, amused.

"If I seem annoyed, that's why. Wait, I lied. There's another reason."

"Mmm?"

"I tried to hack the FBI and Task Force. Can't get in." Light sounded furious.

"Oh… Well, I can help with that tomorrow. That is, if you can come over here." I sighed.

"No problem." He sounded marginally more cheerful. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"For sure," I agreed. I heard him chuckle.

"See ya."

"Byes." I hung up after he did. _Well. That was enlightening._ Kyira was on her pillow beside my futon, watching me tiredly. _What on earth could have worn out that little fluff ball?_" I thought before dozing off.

-Next Day: After School-

"Oh yea, Yuki?" Light asked tentatively.

"Mm?"

"Would I be able to put your Note with mine? I rigged a false bottom in a drawer. You have to open it with a pen cartridge or a rubber wedge on the top gets pulled out and an electrical current is completed. It ignites a bag of gasoline that will set the drawer on fire. No one will figure out that the notebooks are Death Notes and that we are Kira," Light murmured fervently. I hadn't heard him talk so much before.

"Yea. I'll have to carry some pages with me in case." I laughed. "Will you rig my watch to hide some of the note in it?"

"Yes," he replied. "Wait, where are we going?"

"I'm getting a new laptop. Registered under a false name."

"I see," he muttered thoughtfully, messing up hid hair.

"I have a feeling that I ought to use a false name. We both can use the laptop," I told him as we walking into the electronic store. Light and I spent a half hour selecting a really good computer.

"…Can you afford this?" he asked, staring at me. I winked.

"'Course. You don't know my family. Remember, I've been in Alaska for six years," I told him cheerfully, telling the cashier what computer and additional equipment I wanted.

We walked out, carrying the stuff to my house. After Light and I had set the boxes on my table, Light stepped back to stretch and a large snarling erupted from behind him. A blurred shape slammed into Light, knocking him off balance. He fell, knocking me flat on the floor.

"Kyira…" I sighed in exasperation. She barked at me, then jumped onto the window ledge. Light groaned, pushing himself off of me.

"Sorry," Light said through his teeth, falling onto his side. I raised an eyebrow. _So glad I live alone. This looks horrible_, I grumbled to myself. Light's legs were tangled with mine, both of us on the floor. I rolled on my side, and dragged the boxes off the table. I managed to pull them open, throwing the packing materials onto the table. Light watched me, looking moderately amused. He sat up, scooted over, and began helping me set the laptop up.

"All right. Let's hack into the task force now…." I muttered, typing the key commands in quickly. Light leaned against me, his head on my shoulder, watching me work. Within ten minutes, I was in.

"I'm glad we made the signal distort out of my home…. Just on the off chance that they track me," I sighed. We routed the signal to lead to an old building two blocks from my home. Light roared with laughter, shaking me with his amusement. I rolled my eyes, hoping he didn't notice. A knock sounded at my door, followed by the door opening. Light seemed frozen. I deftly shut my laptop down, sliding my laptop under a side table. The boxes went under the couch's recliner. Light smiled tightly and I shoved him onto the couch, flopping next to him.

"Wha..?" he breathed in shock. I put my finber to his lips.

"My sister," I breathed back, just as quietly. "She's… adopted."

"Mm." Light sighed. I pulled my hand away, took one of his, and leaned into him. He paused, then slung his arm over my shoulders.

"Yuuukiii!" a loud voice called, sounding vastly amused, and very annoyed all at the same time. I cringed.

"In here Kia!" I called back calmly, hiding my stress. I heard her walking loudly my way. Light sighed tendely. I rested my head against the back of the couch. I heard Kia gasp in shock as she walked into the living room.

"Yuki…. Who's he?" She asked in a half-strangled voice. Her blue eyes were wide with astonishment.

"Light Yagami," he replied, smiling gently. She stared at him suspiciously.

"What're you doing here?" she asked rudely.

"Kia!" I hissed at her sharply. "I asked him over. It's not your place to criticize me." My eyes narrowed as my voice grew lower and more threatening. Kia took half a step away from me. _Just like always_, I hissed furiously in my mind. Mayu and Ryuk were silent for once, both over by a window. Mayu looked bored, Ryuk appeared to be deely lost in though; a shocking revelation.

"Yea. I know," Kia grumbled. "Why'd you leave home?"

"Wanted to come back where my heart is," I laughed. "I've missed Japan since I left it. Now I'm back, and I can't imagine leaving again." I faded into absolute seriousness. She contemplated Light for a moment.

"Is he the reason?"

"No. I didn't even know him when I got here," I informed her, my manner businessline. Cold and calm.

"Oh. Well "they" want you back home. I'd leaving tomorrow, and they told me to tell you that they promise to drag you bacl."

"Pah!" I scoffed. "They'll do no such thing. I'm here to stay."

I cut off Kia before she could protest. "No! I'm not going to go. I will make myself vanish. They WILL NOT drag me back." I knew I sounded entirely vicious. "Sorry Kia, I'll write and email you, loads of pictures."

"Of everything? You and Light?" she asked, still sounding sad.

"Course." I nodded. "Assuming Light doesn't mind." He shook his head, smiling. I shot off the couch suddenly, tossed my digital camera at Light, and grabbed Kia.

"We'll start now." Light chuckled as Kia and I posed. The flash blinded us.

"Let me take a picture of you two," I told Light. He stood by her, eyes amused. Click. Another picture. Kia insisted on a picture of me and Light. We sighed, but agreed. She left after that.

Light and I hit the couch at the same time.

"Ugh. She's too hyper…" I groaned. Light laughed cheerfully.

"Well. Now what?"

We spent the day working on Kira stuff.

Little did we know that trouble was already starting to knock on our doors. Big trouble.


	12. Chapter 12 Embly

Fhira: Okay, so Neko's chapter again... forgive the lateness; it required an edit that required approval and input from Neko, who has been extremely busy. And I was too busy to call and ask about it, too. Four drawings due the same day... and no, it's not easy to do. Anyway, the normal hilarity of the Neko, references to Trio vs. Duo, more connections, and the plotlines begin to merge. Enjoy!  


* * *

I'll bet that heaven is a lot like a hotel. Someone else to do the cleaning, and the cooking, and no pets allowed. Luckily the rules in a hotel are much easier to get around, so Turuturu-sama is here with me.

That's really a frightful good thing too, because other than Ryosho-san, whom from here shall be known as Ryuuzaki-san (unless he decides to change his name again), I don't know anyone here. Yet again, like heaven the hotel: everyone I know is going to hell. (It's quite strange that I'm actually thinking about this, since I don't really follow a religion.) If heaven is the hotel, then is hell the cleaning crew? Because honestly, that sounds more fun. Can you say "laundry fight"? With a straight face? I thought not.

So, where was I? Oh right. Turuturu-sama was not made very welcome by my dearie Ryuuzaki-san. Apparently the lad has never had a pet. Oh, how could he stand the mundanity of beautiful hair with no one to tell about it? Not that Turuturu-sama is particularly talkative, but we've discovered that he does occasionally bite. I don't think Ryuuzaki-san gets hurt very often, because he seemed a little strange at the sight of his own blood. We must remember this tidbit of information.

Incidentally, did you know that you must repeat something fourteen times to commit it to memory permanently?

Incidentally, did I mention that I'm staying with Ryuuzaki-san at a hotel? That sounds terrible…. I don't think he has an ounce of sexuality in him, though. He just looked at me strangely when I called him sexy (more specifically his voice, but his face too…). So did the rest of the room. (AHH the walls have eyes!! Almost literally—security cameras are EVERYWHERE.)

Ah well.

I've called my sister again. Turns out she's sort of mediating a war over in wherever she is: she just mentioned a few names that were really just words and something about a computer code. It's like she's stopped caring about Kira-san(s), which is odd to me because I can't get the cast and crew of this ship to shut up about the killer. (Except Matsu-chan, he's a good guy. Could get him to talk about turnips if I wished. Did, actually. That was a good day.)

At any rate, there's been a minor/major metaphorical explosion, not unlike the non-metaphorical explosion the other day (not caused by me! So very win). The full story is confusing, so I guess I'll give it to you all at once.

The War (for which Tori-chan is playing referee and, apparently, traitor) is a boyish competition between the Duo: Matt and Mellow (who is so unlike his name that it's hardly funny) and the Trio: whose names escape me…. They're fighting over who is the better crimefighter, I think….

Ow! I won't lie, being shocked by both an oven and a light switch within five minutes is a little disconcerting.

So, in the course of the War, Tori-chan the psychologist decided it would be fun to run interference and set up some security worthy of the soldiers and thus created an entirely new and extremely hack-resistant password getup for the London police website. It worked wonderfully to her liking (and apparently very little to Mellow's—again, what's with the name??), but went a little wonky and has been spread to the police sites almost worldwide, including Japan. Everyone here was a little confused by where it came from until Tori-chan called me:

(Normal security measures here)

"Neko-chan, are you still with the police?"

"Yep yep! How's the War going?"

"That's what I called about. Remember the password program I told you about?"

"The thing set up to confuse Mellow the so very non-mellow?"

At this point Ryuuzaki-san turned around in his swivel chair (those things are FUN!) and stared at me curiously. "Did you just say Mello?"

"I don't know. Tori-Kora-chan, did I just say Mellow?"

"You're my ssister; get my name right. And yes, you did."

I turned to Ryuuzaki-san. "Yes I did, apparently. Do you know him?"

Ryuuzaki-san grabbed my phone for the second time in as many weeks. (Cad!!) "Who is this?"

Tori-chan answered him, I'm assuming, with another question. He lied seamlessly, as always. It's so tiring to work with psychologists all the time…. So, while they continued their conversation that was presumably all questions and no answers and possibly a few veiled threats, I talked to Matsu-chan.

"Who was that? Who's Mello?" Matsu-chan the ever-curious asked.

"My sister, and who knows," I replied sullenly. (Well, as sullen as I get. I'm not terribly good at it….)

"Huh," he stated, sounding for a moment very confused (which he probably was). "Seemed to mean something to Ryuuzaki, anyway."

"Yup."

It was right then that Ryuuzaki-san hung up my telephone and turned to me. He handed back my phone and looked me square in the eye. (Interesting habit of his, looking people in the eye. Rather refreshing, actually.)

"I think it's time you know that I am L."

"Brilliant!"

"..." (That "..." is from the entire room again, not just from Ryuuzaki-san. L-san.)

L-san: "Are you taking this seriously?"

"Yes…. So is Turuturu-sama, obviously." Turuturu-sama, meanwhile, munched peacefully on his lettuce, unawares of the turmoil of YET ANOTHER GODDAMN NAME CHANGE. "So should I still call you Ryuuzaki-san?"

He paused, "Yes, that would be best. You are to tell no one else of this, you understand?"

"Yes sir." I saluted, while keeping eye contact, to show my very true sincerity. "So do you somehow know my sister?"

"No. But she is the cause of this new computer code. She has told me how it works, so I'll tell everyone this once."

He then went on to explain Tori-chan's unexplainable computer savvyness. It was more psychology than computers, actually, and I suspect that the computer part was designed by Ryan-kun, not Tori-chan. I didn't tell Ryuuzaki-san that, though, because I suspected that he and Ryan-kun would only have a similar conversation to the one he had with my sister, only coded in computer instead of questions.

Sadly, though Kira-san(s) was waylayed for a day or so, they must have figured out her computer-savvyness as well, because after that hiatus they were back, and still obviously with police information. A week later, I was talking to Matsu-chan about new strains of drug-resistant bacteria, which led to viruses, which led to computer viruses, which led me to let him do all the talking because I know nothing about computers…. After he realized that what he was saying was going straight over my head (rather like a butterfly... Turuturu-sama apparently likes to eat butterflies, too. Who knew?) we were silent a while. Then he suddenly started talking about the case (AGAIN).

I sighed and stated: "It's like a game of tag, but no one knows who's 'it'…."

L-san (if I don't call him L-san I'll start calling him Ryuu-chan, and I think he'd kill me so I'll just call him L-san in my head…) spun in his chair and spoke to Matsu-chan and I.

"We need a tag."

"... Yes, Ryuu-chan-i-san…." Whoops. "Ryuuzaki-san."

Matsu-chan got a look in his eyes that said very clearly 'I am stylish, HEAR ME ROAR' and said with his voice, "I've heard of viruses being used like that…. Only as pranks, but they've been able to trace computer access to the computer using viruses…. Would something like that work here?"

Screw it. Ryuu-chan grinned. "It would. I'll leave you to design it, Matsuda." He turned to me. "Give Matsuda any of the numbers he needs."

Annoying nit. Ryuu-chan (haha revenge!) turned back to his computer.

I've never seen Matsu-chan smile so brightly.

Roughly three hours later, we had a lock on a computer. Now we've only got to find it in order to find Kira-san(s).


	13. Chapter 13 Ami

Fhira: Yes, yes, I am ridiculously late with this. Sorry, sorry.... It's entirely on my part, so don't blame the others. I got dragged off to look at houses (that I won't ever actually live in, anyway), and cousins visited so I had to babysit... and prior to that I was just busy. So, all my fault, don't blame the others. I will have the next chapter up within two days though, if not tomorrow, so consider that your apology.  


* * *

"I'll be back in half an hour to show you to the classes." With that, Victory-san nudged me toward the door and walked away. I nervously opened the door, half-expecting a lecture.

"Ami, where were you?" my mother asked.

"I wish you had told us before you went off to explore." My father sighed.

Before I had time to apologize, I was told to have a seat and prepare my class schedule. With some parental input, I finished it two minutes before Victory-san came back. Roger-san and my parents approved of the schedule, and aside from P.E., I liked it, too.

"Are you done with the schedule?" Victory-san asked as she entered the room. I looked up at her, managed to make eye contact, and nodded. "Okay," she said after looking it over. "I'll show you where the classes are, then."

Chemistry class was... interesting. Simply put, someone in the middle of the lab room made a critical mistake, so half of the class time was spent with fire extinguishers, mops, and brooms. During my second class, the teacher reviewed the basics of computer hacking and protection. It was difficult, but with a bit (okay, a lot) of help, I learned the basics, which really came in handy during my third class, Investigation.

"So, what do you think?" Victory-san asked during lunch hour.

"I... like it, I think," I replied, smiling nervously. _Though I wish I had some friends to be with...._

"You should try talking to people more. You'll have a harder time making friends, or interacting with people at all, if you aren't used to speaking up for yourself," she told me. "Trust me--I used to be really, really shy. Didn't help that my twin was just as outgoing and could speak for me just fine; I'd go for a few months at a time without speaking to anyone outside my family." She paused. "Or inside my family, sometimes, apart from her. I got used to it, though, once I started talking to people more."

"Really? You were?" I couldn't imagine someone as confident as Victory-san acting like... well, me.

"Yeah. It was a while ago... it's all just practice, though. Anyway, at the very least you should get something to eat for now."

"Oh, um, no, that's all right," I quickly replied. "I... oh, that's right!" I rummaged through my miniature backpack and pulled out the cookies that I had made during Culinary class right before lunch. "Would you like some?"

"Sure," Victory-san said, grinning as she took some. "...Ami, these are pretty good," she commented after taking a bite.

"Really?" I couldn't help but smile.

The peace was short-lived, however (as it usually seemed to be as of late). Before long there was a crash nearby, and a piece of broken plate flew by. Apparently, Mello-san and some other kid had been fighting for the last cookie, and during the scuffle their plates--and the cookie--had fallen, the latter to their dismay.

"Um, are you both all right?" I couldn't help but ask as I began picking up the shattered plates.

"Ami, let them do it. They're the ones who broke it, so it's their job to clean up the mess," Victory-san reminded me.

"Um, okay..." I said as I set the pieces in my hand onto the counter. "But... here," I offered each of them a cookie. "I... made these. If you want, you can...."

"Thanks," the random kid said, smiling as he accepted the treat. Mello-san stared strangely at me, though.

"It's not poisonous, is it?" he asked.

"Of course not! Why would it be?"

"Truth serum?"

"No."

"Sedative?"

"No!" I sweatdropped. "Why would these have anything like those in them?"

"You're a spy from Tori, aren't you?"

"What?" _Does he have something against Victory-san?_ "...She never told me to do so, and I would never spy unless I was given direct orders to do so, or there was a good reason." Victory-san was laughing and Mello-sand looked baffled. Maybe because I was talking so much? ...Come to think of it, why _was_ I talking this much?

The last class of the day was P.E.. The teacher said that dodgeball would enhance our dodging abilities and teach us to predict our opponent's movements in case we were being fired at, but I still thought that Nerf bullets would be more effective for doing that, as well as less painful.

The good part about the game: I dodged almost every ball and made it to the final round. The bad part: I was bad at throwing to injure, so I was knocked out of the game quickly. Not to mention the constant "every man for himself" lectures I got whenever I tried to block another from being hit.

The common room (which I seemed to have taken a bit of a liking to) had gotten louder, which at the time I thought to be nearly impossible. It seemed that yet another quarrel had broken out, and Victory-san was nowhere in sight.

"...Um, what's going on?" I asked Matt-san, who was once again playing his GBA and half-watching Mello and Near.

"I think Near took more chocolate or something," he replied without lifting his gaze from the screen. My body seemed to be moving on its own because before I knew it, I was standing next to the fight scene with the stolen chocolate in my hand. The entire room fell silent.

"U-um, please don't fight anymore," I said quietly, handing Mello-san his chocolate. "Violence isn't usually the right way to solve things. And, um, if I may ask... Near-san, why _did_ you take Mello-san's chocolate?"

"I thought you had heard yesterday's explanation from Tori," he calmly replied.

"...I-I'm sorry, but... you shouldn't experiment with people's emotions. It hurts them."

"What are you talking about?" someone from the crowd complained.

"Yeah," another chimed in. "Near's the best, he must know what he's doing."

"Nobody is perfect," I replied nervously. "Everyone has things that they can and can't do very well, and I'm sure that someone must be better than him at something...." Everyone stared at me as if I were crazy.

At this moment, Victory-san entered the room. "Ami, your parents are...." She stopped mid-sentence as she looked around the room, then sighed and folded her arms. "Okay, what happened?"

The four of us (Near, Mello, Matt, and I) were taken to Roger-san's office. Upon hearing the explanation, he sighed, but Victory-san seemed rather pleased.

"Congratulations," she told me.

Who would have thought that my first four friends would be the result of an argument? ...Chocolate can be such an amazing thing.


	14. Chapter 14 Tori

Tori: Okay.... Not much to say about this. There's a bit from Trio vs. Duo that ties in, hopefully humorous, and the timeline advances to (hopefully sometime soon) catch up with Neko's and Sayuka's. Other than that--enjoy.  


* * *

The week of Ami's visit was the least destructive interesting week in my entire stay at Wammy's. I don't know why--maybe she amused Mello enough to distract him from chaotic plots, maybe she was able to stop him (god knows how--and I, like my twin, am more atheist than anything else, so take that into consideration when thinking about who knows). Maybe he actually decided to behave for a visitor (and again, god knows _why_...), or maybe it was sheer random chance. I'm not sure I believe in that (which is basically the only reason I'm not completely atheist), but I'm not sure I have any other option. It was nonetheless the least destructive week I knew of that hadn't also been mind-numbingly boring.

Actually, even the mind-numbingly boring ones were generally more destructive.

I suspect a good part of it was Ami. She caused a number of new revelations for most of Wammy's population. Among them, Near is not perfect, Near does not have the right to do anything he wants, Near and Mello can get along under the right circumstances, Near actually does eat on occasion... actually, most of them had to do with Near. Probably her biggest revelation, though, was herself--Mello is the closest Wammy's House has ever had to an inferiority complex, and the resulting mentality said that anyone with an inferiority complex probably had one for a reason.

Somewhat ironic, since I was fairly certain that at least half, if not all, of them had inferiority complexes and just were in denial about them. Anyway, Ami proved them wrong.

Of course, the interesting non-destruction was only within Wammy's House. Kira had continued, and apparently gotten an ally. My twin had been kidnapped by "an adorably sexy asexual man with really, really great hair," who turned out to be L, and quite interfered by stealing Neko's phone and insisting on playing detective trying to find out who I was, when I was supposed to be saying goodbye to Ami. (Not, of course, that I wasn't doing the same thing. But he started it.) It was quite the interesting situation; I had a phone on one ear, headphones hidden by hair on the other, and was trying to both talk normally to Ami and keep L from hearing any of the conversation.

Psychologist, babysitter, therapist, tutor... perhaps I should add mental acrobat to the list.

Anyway, I eventually guessed that L was L (being at Wammy's helped), went with it and let him know who I was, and got confirmation of who he was (though I'm fairly sure he wasn't aware--psychology may be a skill for him, but it's my talent). After that he hung up, and I proceeded to say goodbye to Ami normally.

Well, if normal includes hugs, crying, 'you're a good person' reassurances, promises to keep in touch, and fending off an attempted kidnapping by Wammy's students, led by Mello and all addicted to Ami's baking.

I said the week was non-destructive. I never said it was non-chaotic.

Eventually Matt, Mello, and the rest were shooed off. Goodbyes were said, with Ami swarmed by the majority of Wammy's House inhabitants, and her parents only saying polite goodbyes with Roger, me, and a few of the oldest orphans, though June, our second youngest orphan, had a long, teary goodbye with Ami's mother, whom she'd mostly adopted.

Once they were gone and June was comforted with candy, hugs, and pinky-finger oaths to help her keep in contact with Ami's mother and find her when she was old enough to leave Wammy's, I went back to patrolling the school, listening to music, and writing.

It was almost surreal not to have Ami there. I didn't have to worry about being too sarcastic, caustic, cynical or pessimistic, and didn't have to stay up so late. I'd spent enough time with Ami on the days she was there that I had to spend the rest of normal waking hours doing damage control on chaos, and only got to go run after everyone was either asleep or not going to cause chaos, generally past midnight. And I was alone most of the time again, definitely a contrast. My phone rang.

Well, relatively alone.

"Hello?"

"Hi Tori!"

"Maria?"

"_I AM NOT_ I'm Mari...."

"A. Okay, so what'd you find?"

"I got a dress for the dance! It's so pretty, yellow and sparkles.... Shiny...."

"...Right. Okay then, where are you?"

"At home!"

"Anyone else there?"

"Nope!"

"Any cameras?"

"Yeah! Of course! Ooh, I got a new one three days ago! The focus is amazing, I can be two inches away and zoom and it still works!"

I sighed, resisted the urge to bang my head against a wall, and laughed. "Sounds good. But I meant the other kind of cameras."

"Spy cameras?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, no. I checked!"

"Microphones?"

"Nope!"

"Okay. So, then...?"

"...What?"

I sighed. "Did you get a list of Mafia members who've died?"

"..." There was a full minute of silence as she thought. "Oh yeah! I sent it to you five minutes ago."

"Okay. Did you get a list of the ones who haven't?"

"No... my uncle wouldn't let me see those. He doesn't know what I'm doing with them."

"Try telling him it's to catch Kira. ...And that L will never see them, and likely wouldn't care if he did."

"Okay!" I could hear Maria bouncing, probably on a chair that really wasn't meant to bounce. "Guess what! I figured something out!"

"...What...?"

"Kira's killing criminals! Big criminals, like murderers and stuff! He's not killing the little ones!"

"..." Sometimes, Maria's insights were amazing. Other times, they were amazing in an entirely different way. "Right. Anything else?"

"He needs their real name to kill them. And their face."

"How'd you guess that?" I'd kept Maria from watching L's broadcast; being Maria, she probably didn't know there had been one. I'd wanted to make sure she wasn't biased when she looked for connections, so if she had thought of the same thing anyway, I'd consider it confirmed.

"Well all the dead ones had their name and face out. And two days ago I put up a list of some of the worst ones in a different group , with their real names and faces, and half of them are dead now. And I put up some with the wrong name or face or without one, and none of them are dead."

"And none of the names or faces were up before?"

"At least one wasn't."

"How'd you put them up?"

"Made a fake Kira-worshipping site and said I was a government spy working in the group. I got to play with sparkles and theme music!"

"...Okay then." I now had the mental image of Kira, the pink and sparkly. With video-game style hyper background music. "Well, L apparently came to the same conclusion, so we'll consider it accurate. Can you tell the others?"

"Yep! I'm meeting Meg today! We're going to a movie!"

"Okay. I need to call Carol, so I'll tell her."

"Okay! Bye-byes!"

"Bye." I hung up before I could get attacked with more sugar-inducing spasms of trauma by Maria.

I know that sentence didn't make sense. But it's about Maria....

I have to wait a bit between phone calls or else my phone tends to call the first person back. Unfortunately, that gives the first person a chance to call me back.

"Hello?"

"Tori, guess what!"

"What?"

"I figured something else out! Just now!"

"What's that?"

"Mint gum is _minty_!"

"...Goodbye, Maria."

So much for avoiding hyper trauma.

My attempt to call Carol was interrupted again a few seconds later, but from a more reasonable source.

"Tori!"

I blinked as the door crashed in to reveal two out of breath, zombified... probably angry... computer geniuses. "...Well, hello. There something you need?"

I was fairly certain that they both exploded.

"You made that! That program that blocks us! Why? You knew we were working on this! Why would you make anything like that!" Matt raged. Or whined, it was hard to tell the difference.

I blinked. "Made... program.... Nano, Matt, think about this. What do you know about my programming abilities?"

The two both froze and blinked for an instant. "...They suck," Nano said, quite tactfully.

I twitched. "Not the term I'd use, but relative to you two, yes, fine, they suck. So...?"

"...So Thought lied." They both looked irritated again.

"About what?"

"She said you made the program."

"Oh. No," I said. "I just asked Ryan to, with some of his friends. And got the police to install it. It's a layered password. You need three passwords, in order, to get in, but the screen for the second and third passwords looks identical to the screen you get when you put the first password in wrong." I shrugged. "I came up with the idea, but Ryan and his friends did the actual programming."

"TORI!"

I blinked, this time deliberately and innocently. "What?"

"Are you trying to torture us?"

"Now why would I do that?"

Both of them were glaring at me, neither effectively. "Because," Nano could very well have been drunk, based on the effort he was putting into speaking, "you think it is funny."

"Who, me?"

Their eyes twitched in unison.

"Hey, are you two psychic?"

They blinked, again in unison. "Not as far as I know..." Matt said.

Well, you appear to have a subconscious connection of some sort."

"Huh?"

"You twitched simultaneously."

Matt returned to twitching. Nano glared. "If we attacked simultaneously, could we strangle you?"

I looked contemplative for a few minutes. "No, I don't think so. Unless you drugged me first, but I'd probably notice that and lock the door."

They looked as enraged as exhausted, teenage computer zombies can look. Which was quite enraged, actually... just inhumanly cute, too. "How can you be that oblivious!"

"Quite deliberately, I assure you. That, or Neko's lizard has come to visit. Or been summoned. Perhaps both. ...You know what, I think it's the lizard."

"...What?" Nano and Matt both looked completely and utterly lost.

I took pity on them and stopped rambling. "You don't want to know, trust me. There's a reason I'm here and my twin isn't. You know how spastic Mello is? Yeah, Neko makes him look like he's sleeping. And that's when she's calm." I paused. "...Though, her spazzes are less of the 'I am better than you!' kind and more of the 'OOH SHINY!' type."

"..." Nano fell over.

Matt exploded.

Nano was revived by said explosion, and exploded as well.

I blinked and waited.

It only took a few minutes for the explosion to go from 'red giant on a supernova' to 'black hole of energy.' So when I pushed the two onto my bed, they both collapsed, discovered they couldn't move, and fell asleep within two minutes.

...Curse you, Neko. That sounded really bad, didn't it? I'm not a pedophile. ...Actually, come to think of it, it wouldn't be pedophilia anyway. Either way, I couldn't care less; I've never been interested in anyone. Probably why I could humor Neko's ramblings about awkward sexiness and really, really, really great hair so well. And collarbones, mustn't forget the collarbones. Neko, dammit, take your infernal lizard back!

...Although it's probably a turtle by now, anyway.

Anyway, once the two fell asleep, I dragged them back to their respective rooms, pausing to threaten Mello with being denied access to all computers for a week if he woke Matt up. Hopefully he'd remain busy until Matt woke up on his own, but if not, it should buy Matt an extra half hour or so of sleep.

Once I got back to my room, I--finally--got to call Carol.

"Tori?"

"Yeah. I need you to find Neko for me."

"...Neko as in your twin?"

"Yeah."

"So did she get arrested or kidnapped?"

"...Some of both, come to think of it."

"You know, I was kidding. ...Well, partially kidding."

"Yes, well, she apparently ran into L, while talking to me about Kira. So he's drafted her to help him, or at least to remain around within his sight."

"What, he suspects her?"

"Well, not many people would be wandering about Japan shouting about Kira. And he's using her to get me to do stuff for him.... So, anyway, I need you to find her."

"Any clues?"

"A hotel in Kanto. They also switch hotels every few days, but they're all fairly high-end, and most likely all within a relatively short distance of the NPA's Kira headquarters, though we can't guarantee that."

I didn't have to see to know Carol was nodding. "Okay, shouldn't be too hard. Can you get me to Japan?"

"...Do you know Japanese?" The last time we'd discussed languages, she didn't, at least not well.

"Not as good as you, but enough. I'll still be obvious, but I can get around."

"Then yeah. How long will you need?"

Carol hm'd for a moment while she thought. "Not more than a few weeks. Do you want me to actually talk to her, or just let you know where she is?"

"Mm...." I hadn't thought about that. Having Carol talk to Neko could be useful, but having someone there that L didn't know about could be more useful, depending. "How long can you stay, potentially?"

"The rest of my life, though I may hate you for it."

"Okay, let me rephrase. How long until it will interfere with something important?"

Carol sighed. "I'm in college online, so that's not a problem. But I also have to work."

"Hm...." I played with a pencil, spinning it around my fingers as I thought. I can never stay completely still, no matter what I'm doing. "How much? I can pay you, but not a lot."

"Enough to live on and pay for college."

I got the feeling that Carol had expected that offer. "Right, I can do that, then. Not much more, though. How soon can you get to Japan?"

"A week."

"Do that, then. Do you need a passport?"

"No, got it when you decided to start messing with international things."

"Hey, America is now international for me. And everything is international for Neko."

"International for the sane ones, then."

"...Well, okay. Anything else you need to get there?"

"Money for plane tickets."

I laughed. "Well, I can cover that one. Call me when you're there, okay?"

"Sure. Do I talk to Neko?"

"No, not yet. I'd rather L not know you're there."

"Okay then. I'll let you know if I need anything."

"Okay. See you." Why I still used that phrase, I had no idea. I hadn't 'seen' any of my team in over a year. Maybe it was wishful thinking. I hung up.

I'd see them again soon; I could take a vacation from Wammy's later. After Kira was caught, or to catch him.

Or L.

I signed online and began looking through the list of dead Mafia members from Maria.


	15. Chapter 15 Yuki

Fhira: Yes, yes, we know, this is horribly, unforgivably late. We're sorry, real life invaded, then writer's block, then real life again, then both together... if you want more of an explanation, it's at the (current) end of our ongoing conversation in our profile. Along with Sayuka taking more blame than she ought to. Anyway we all greatly apologize, especially Sayuka, hence the length of this chapter, and we appear to have gotten past all that irritating reality stuff that was keeping us from writing. So while updates may not be quite as frequent as they originally were (due to lack of computers and being spread out over a few different states), it certainly won't ever take this long again. So then, here's Yuki, enjoy!

* * *

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE--_**CRASH**

I threw my alarm clock off the bedside table, effectively shutting it off and breaking a really horrible vase that sat in the corner of my room. Kyira exploded off the floor, yapping and yipping furiously until I told her to stop it. I crawled off my bed slowly; I was currently awake a full two hours before normal. I planned to get my hair cut off before I went to school, and I always woke up an hour early for that. Thank God (even though I don't really believe in that kind of thing) I had located a salon that was open this early. I knew I'd never have time to get this done after school, what with being Kira and homework and Kyira and Light. Good lord, I sound like a bad television show about teenage psycho killer girls. Ugh, I need counseling.

Ten minutes later found me walking out the door, after leaving Kyira enough food to last her until I got home from everything, and heading to a salon. I twitched at the neon-hot-pink sign before I walked inside, trying to ignore the foreboding feeling of walking into a deathtrap. I went through the customary things before being set in a chair.

"Hello! First time here? Oh _my_, you have such beautiful hair! Are you really sure you want to cut it?" The woman attending to me gushed. I internally set a timer on a bomb and ran.

"Hi, and yes it is. And yes, I really do want to get this cut. It causes me problems at work and I'm too busy to spend enough time taking care of it," I replied sweetly, feeling like I was pouring acid down my throat.

"Oh, yes. Jobs and hair length restrictions are so awful! Well, dear, how do you want it cut?"

"In a shag that reaches the middle of my shoulder blades, with bangs on one side that slant across my face. Preferably across my left eye."

"Oh, is that back in style again? I usually see that on those kids who wear enough eyeliner that they look like raccoons and wear all that nasty black clothing."

My mental time-bomb blew up then, and I just forced myself to chuckle. What really did amuse me was that she apparently failed to notice that I was dressed in all black, except the white shirt and the tie. I sighed as she finally stopped babbling to me and set about cutting my hair.

As I walked out of the salon with my head feeling like it was going to float off my neck, probably from the loss of the weight of my long hair, I heard "wait, that girl's wearing the boys' school uniform!" and I burst out laughing as the door swung shut behind me, pulling my coat on at the same time.

I was still grinning from amusement when I walked into the school. Heads turned to stare at me, and I felt like it was my first day all over again, the center of attention. I gave the kids I disliked my normal stoic attitude, waved and smiled at the few I could tolerate.

- Lunch -

"…." I thought the other students' reactions had been hilarious. This was the first time I got to see Light today, my schedule being different than his after a couple things had been rearranged for no reason that I could see, and it was worth it. He was sitting at our customary table with his mouth hanging open and his eyes bugging out.

"What are you doing? Catching flies?" I asked him caustically as I dropped my bag onto the chair beside the one I was going to sit in before I flopped down, flicking my head slightly so that my bangs flopped over far enough that I could see out of my other eye. Light was still staring at me, but he'd finally closed his mouth. Maybe he **was** slightly aware of what I'd said. I rolled my eyes, pulling my lunch from my school bag and digging around until I found what I was looking for. I bit into the peach, waiting for Light to regain his possession of speech and coherent thinking.

"What… the hell did you do to yourself?" he finally said, after staring at me for what felt like an hour but had been only five minutes.

"I cut my hair. I told you I was going to."

"…Ugh."

"Hey, you're not my God, and I'll decide what I inflict upon myself. Wait, whoa. That sounded horrible! I'm not suicidal or anything, okay so maybe I am but I haven't done anything for a year! GAH!" I smacked my head into the table and stayed down.

"THAT IS NOT THE ANSWER, GIRLFRIEND! Life is SO worth it! I can show ya what it's got to offer, if Mr. Brilliance here is boring you!" Cody appeared at our table with a bang. I jumped, jerking my head off the table and making a mess of hair in my face. I violently shook it all out of my face before I stared at the kid.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" Light demanded angrily.

"Kids like him don't have one," I informed Light, inching away from Cody. I didn't hate the boy, but jeez! Life gets annoying when you've got a kid flirting shamelessly with you and dogging you around school.

"Whoa, whoa! That's cold!" He sounded like he was offended. Good. Not that it would change anything.

"Cody?" I looked at the boy calmly, and a little bit amused.

"Yea, Yuki?"

"Are you on drugs?"

Light busted out laughing and Cody cracked a lopsided grin. I smirked slightly, returning to my food while Cody and Light joshed each other a bit and made fun of the other for guy-things that I chose to ignore. But then another distraction showed up in our lives, and this one gave me a really bad feeling for a reason I couldn't place.

"HEEELLLOOOOOO! Light and Yuki! Would you two be so kind as to stand up and wave so I can find you guys? I've been looking for you all day and no such luck!" Light and I exchanged a look that said "Will you write my name in your note?" before turning to look at the scene behind us. A girl was standing, yes, that's right, _standing_, on a table in the middle of the cafeteria, which was dead silent. Cody was staring with his mouth slightly open.

"Goddamn. Another psycho." I sighed heavily. "C'mon…. Might as well stand up, I get the feeling this will get a hundred times worse if we don't do it." Light nodded and we both stood up, Light telling Cody to split and not get involved in something that he would probably hate. Cody agreed, walking away just as the girl appeared in front of us.

"Hi! I'm new here and everyone told me that you guys are really cool people and really nice. Then someone else told me you're really smart and I wanted to see if it was true for myself and ooooh! You have a really strange hair color! And it looks really soft, do you mind if I pet it?" She spat it all out in a rush, the last two lines directed at me. Light covered his mouth with a hand while I sat down and started banging my head against the table, none too gently.

"What's wrong? Did I offend you?" She sounded really worried. "Oh! I never introduced myself did I? I'm Korahana Miei!"

"…Light Yagami. Though you already seem to know me…."

"Yuki Shio…. But you knew that already." I'd stopped banging my head by then and was just sitting with my forehead against the tabletop.

We went through the remainder of lunch by talking about the things most people did when they just meet. Korahana (what a name…) kept getting distracted by odd things (such as my silver pen, for it's apparent 'epic shine'), and mentioned the Kira case, speculating about things. Light and I replied from the point of bystanders, being absolutely sure not to give anything away by knowing too much.

We finally escaped because the bell rang to send us back to our last few classes of the day, the ones I still had with Light. They passed like normal, I would take notes and act like I was paying attention while I was actually planning things. Some of it was Kira business, some was worrying over the girl who appeared from nowhere at lunch. I did not believe for a minute she was new here. I know a girl with a mission when I see one. And I shuddered to think of just what that mission could be. My only comfort was knowing that Light and I happened to be very good actors; how else did we make it this far without getting found out? Well, hell. I forgot about that, my little slip up at lunch. About the suicide thing. _Ahhh hell._

-Later: At Yuki's-

We left school together, for once not staying to mingle with the other kids. We took off the minute we could, giving the excuse of needing to do something for my aunt. I was claiming to be working for her, when I was really working for myself. I had no intention of telling Light what I did for a living unless he happened to see evidence of it. It's not like it was anything illegal or whatnot… just embarrassing to me.

I unlocked my door, using my regular door key and then the keypad on the wall next to the door. Light looked confused as I entered six codes.

"What'd you do? Forget your own code?"

"No. I'll explain inside. After I check my email." I grunted, hearing the beep that meant the door was unlocked. We walked inside, throwing our schoolbags onto the reclining chair that I never used. I loathe those things. If you fall asleep in it when it's reclined, who knows what moronic idiot is going to sneak up on you and slam their hands down on the back to make the chair almost flip. Or catapult. My cousin did that to me. I almost strangled him for it. But I got him back. Oh yea, definitely got him back. Except mine involved boiling water when he was eating hot sausage. I've never seen him madder. I pulled my laptop out from the drawer under the low table in front of my couch, not the one I'd gotten under a false name, and proceeded to log on to check my email. Light sat next to me, fiddling with some of my hair.

"What are you doing?" I asked, curious and also feeling like I would regret asking.

"Huh? Oh. Nothing." He dropped the lock of hair he had been twirling around his finger.

"Sure it was nothing. You're turning red."

"I am not!"

"Mmmhmm," I murmured quietly, opening my email. "Ah, hell!" I sighed.

"What happened?" Light sounded curious and worried. I just pointed at the screen. "54 new messages… 50 from Kia and 4 from… who?"

"My 'family.'" I put a nasty twist on the word. "I don't think of them as family. I think of them as jailers." I snarled lowly, deleting the four from them and sighing at the remaining messages. I went through them quickly, all they contained was the same message that kept getting more and more frantic. I replied quickly, telling Kia that I wasn't going to email her every two seconds and that I'd only have time for what I promised her on weekends. Kyira had climbed onto the couch with Light and I, curled up between us with her bushy little tail on my leg and her head on Light's knee.

Instead of working on Kira related things, we did homework. We also speculated on the girl who appeared at lunch.

"What do you think Kora was up to? I'm shortening that name." I sighed tiredly, slamming a textbook shut and fluffing my hair out with a hand.

"Mmm, I don't see anything just now. But I don't trust her."

"Me either."

We sat in a silence that was only broken when Kyira started to snore quietly. Light and I both laughed lightly, I shaking my head slightly. I leaned back, stretching vigorously and bonking Light in the head, purely by 'accident.'

"HEY!" Light growled, mock glaring at me.

"What?"

"What was that for!"

"…What was what for?" I tried to look innocent, and only succeeded in smirking.

"…Sometimes, I hate you."

"Aw, I love you too."

"I didn't say that." I laughed. "Oh yea! About the door and codes." I leaned over to whisper it in his ear, my fit of paranoia not gone. "Takes six to get in, my design. It reacts like you put in the wrong code for the first five, the last lets you in; unless you get that wrong too."

"Ah."

I waved when Light left, and spent the rest of my night wondering what school would be like tomorrow. I'd wager my favorite sketchbook it wouldn't be fun, well for me anyway.


	16. Chapter 16 Embly

Fhira: Well, now that fanfiction will let me log on.... Embly has arrived, with squeaky shoes, shiny, G's, skirts, toxic cakes, and potential death by laughter. Have fun, try not to suffocate. Enjoy!  


* * *

Squeaky shoes are the epitome of uncool. I discovered this only when I noticed Light Yagami for the first time, waltzing (almost literally) around the school. His eyes were glinting, his hair shining, his clothes clinging in all the right places, and his shoes squeaking and ruining all of the cool that he had thus far managed to gather. I think that it was that, combined with my SUPERSLEUTH skills, that kept him (and his girl?friend) from noticing me until lunchtime. It really seems like two serial killers should have better senses, all things told. Ah well, "not all that glitters is gold," and I guess it's the same with people. (I wish I were kidding, Light-san must put Sir Shinealot's Shine-o-rific in his hair. And his face. BUT NOT HIS SHOES FOR THEY SQUEAK LIKE PIGLET DEVILS!)

Anyway, I am a good agent, and remember Ryuu-chan's sound advice: "If I'm caught, I'm dead." Difficult to argue with that man. Easy to pet, difficult to win against. Sad, sad truth. Poor Matsu-chan wanted to be the agent for this mission, since he really does look around the right age, but luckily for me Ryuu-chan wanted me the hell out of the office because (and I quote!) "I can't think with her petting my head."

Oh, I laughed... am laughing, bother. Secret agents do not laugh. They smirk, they chuckle, chortle even, but they do not guffaw, galumph, giggle, gesticulate, grow, or give mercy. Basic rule of being a spy: AVOID Gs AT ALL COSTS. Gs on all levels are antispies. Like antibacteria but so much stronger because they have the power of GRENADES! It's terrible, really.

At any rate, I managed to make it to school and followed Light-san (respect thy enemies, for they fry your fish or some such) for most of the morning, stopping only to trail someone else because I thought they had candy but that's another story entirely so I'll cut to lunchtime.

At lunch, Light-san sat down to a modest lunch of healthy food, because he's (as I've been trying to prove to Ryuu-chan and I've gotten Matsu-chan to believe) a complete and utter poofter. A lovely poofter, but a fairy-lad nonethess. Or so I thought, because a pretty feathery lass in a pretty male uniform sat with him, and for a moment I thought he'd choked on his own spleen (which had obviously jumped into his windpipe at the sight of what he undoubtedly thought was the most lovely male he'd ever seen. At this occurance, his larynx bellowed, "STEVE WHY ARE YOU HERE? I told you never to see me again! Pharynx will be angry!" and Pharynx kicked some Spleen/Steve ass which is difficult to manage because locating the ass on something assless is a difficult thing to manage. But I digress). Sadly, the young Yagami then noticed that his friend had girly bits, and then began to breathe again. Or perhaps she said something, I really don't know. When queried, my new friend Tomo-kun (who did have candy, win!) said the the new girl was, in fact, a new girl named Yuki. I then told Tomo-kun that I had to forgo him and his sugary treats in favour of this new development, and he tried to waylay me with a Snickers. However, I felt it was time to introduce myself, and as all of my spy training has taught me to be subtle, I thought it was time to act a bit more like myself. As such, standing on the table seemed like a good idea at the time.

Skirts are terrible, terrible inventions.

And Tomo-kun has called me at least three times in the past hour. Turuturu-sama is really getting annoyed at the buzzing, and Ryuu-chan won't let me turn my ringtone back on. It's only by bringing up Tori-chan that he lets me keep my telephone on at all. This place has so many rules, it's depressing. But worth it, because Ryuu-chan is soft, and Matsu-chan is in love with Turuturu-sama. (Turuturu-sama blushes whenever Matsu-chan feeds him lettuce. He thinks no one sees it, but I do.)

Anyway, I feel that Light-san and Yuki-san might suspect something, just based on their lovely expressions of terror-surprise when I introduced myself. Luckily, they have no name that would mean anything to anyone except the internet, who has been cleverly fitted with a complete history of the life of Korahana Miei. Apparently she had braces as a child, poor girl. Also no pet turtle, and no friend with ridiculously amazing hair and bare feet. (Going back to the squeaky shoes, it's really fortunate that Ryuu-chan never wears them, at least not when he's being L, because Kira-san would never take him seriously.)

My room smells like cake, and I can only hope it's because Matsu-chan is celebrating something or else the cake will be laced with something undesirable. It's hard being stuck with manic liars, fetishists (I'm assuming things here), and worriers because nothing that anybody bakes is trustworthy, and the consequences of eating it are painful for so many reasons. Quite like twister. Don't ask how.

At any rate, hopefully Kira-sans will be convinced by my blatant insanity and "legitimate" records that I really am just this insane. (Which I am so it shouldn't be a problem. Right? Right.)

And Turuturu-sama has discovered my underwear drawer, and I only know this because Matsu-san just asked me if this bra he found was mine. I hope it's mine, because otherwise there's a transexual in the office. I love being a spy.


End file.
